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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

RIVERSIDE 


By  Elsie  Whitlock   Rose 

and 

Vida  Hunt  Francis 


(^attyedrals  ai}d  Roisters  of  tl?e 
5otJt:r;  of  praQee 

Provence — Languedoc — Gascony 


C^attyedrals  ai)d  Roisters  of 
/T\idlaQd  pra9ee 

Burgundy — Savoy — Dai  thine — 

AUVERGNE AqUITAINK 


C^attyedrals  and  Roisters  of  tlpe 
Isle  de  prar^ee 

Bourges — Troyes — Reims  and  Rouen 

Eacli  in  two  volumes,  containing  photo- 
gravure and  oilier  illustrations  and  a  map; 
cloth  extra,  gilt  top,  stamped  on  side  with 
full  gilt  and  color,  boxed,  iter  set,  net  $5  00. 


CL 


ISLE     D  E      F  R 


"Beautiful    and>  "unaffected    orna- 
mentation,  an   extraordinary 

height  of  pillars,  boldness  and  light- 
ness of  orace." 

Bourges, 


EL 


Gbe  Iviiici 


-i>mo    baJDS.Bsrttf-"  *brif;     lu^iiufiaO  " 

^Ti;nibiO£i3xy    ns noiJKJnarn 

-id-pil  bn£  eaanblod  ,8ifiIIiq  }o  irl^bri 

".3D1.TO  "to  339fl 


CATHEDRALS 
and    CLOISTERS 

OF  THE 

ISLE     DE     FRANCE 

(Including  Bourges,   Troyes,  Reims,  and  Rouen) 


BY 

ELISE    WHITLOCK    ROSE 


With  Illustrations  from  Original  Photographs 
BY 

VIDA  HUNT  FRANCIS 


IN  -TWO  VOLUMES 
VOLUME  L 


G.    P.    PUTNAM'S  SONS 

NEW    YORK    AND    LONDON 

Cbe  fmfckerbocfcer  press 
1910 


I 


Copyright,  1910 

.  by 
G.    P.   PUTNAM'S  SONS 


"Cbc  Knickerbocker  jprcsa,  Hew  yorb 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 


Introduction    , 3 

The  Early  Gothic 129 

The  Mature  Gothic       339 


PREFACE. 

TT  was  with  some  trepidation  that  the  makers  of  these 
A  books  turned  again  towards  the  Isle-de-France. 
The  grandeur  of  the  mighty  Cathedrals  of  this  terri- 
tory, the  many  possible  photographs  from  which  a 
comparatively  small  number  must  be  selected,  the 
huge  mass  of  archaeological,  historical,  legendary,  and 
architectural  detail  of  which  only  the  best  —  and  a 
little  of  the  best — should  be  chosen; — these  were  prob- 
lems which,  they  knew,  would  meet  them  in  every 
Cathedral-city. 

Besides  these,  which  had  been  encountered  in  lesser 
shape  during  former  journeys,  there  were  new  dif- 
ficulties. Tourists,  whether  in  small  groups  or  in 
crowds,  do  not  always  add  to  the  beauty  of  a  photo- 
graph or  the  peace  of  mind  of  a  photographer.  They 
have  a  vexatious,  although  most  natural,  fashion  of 
wondering  what  is  being  "taken,"  and  of  standing  in 
front  of  the  camera  in  order  to  find  out.  Nor  do  the 
explanations  of  the  guides,  often  audible  from  sev- 
eral groups  at  once  and  in  as  many  languages, 
make  either  for  historical  or  architectural  accuracy. 
In  the  smaller  and  less  frequented  towns,  as  Meaux 
and  Noyon,   the  quiet  and  charm  of  the  South  and 


iv  Preface 

Midland  seemed  repeated  in  the  North.  But  at 
Amiens,  Reims,  Chart  res,  and  Paris,  interruptions  were 
inevitable.  The  unfailing  courtesy  of  the  Clergy  and 
the  authorisation  of  the  Beaux- Arts  gave  the  Cathedral- 
seekers  every  possible  opportunity;  yet  small,  practical 
difficulties  accumulated  in  direct  proportion  to  the 
popularity  of  the  church  in  which  they  worked,  and, 
at  times,  their  days  on  the  ground-floor  of  the  Greater 
Cathedrals  were  far  less  inspiring  than  other  days 
spent  in  high  and  quiet  galleries,  in  the  towers  and 
turrets,  or  on  the  roofs  with  the  quaint  and  astounding 
gargoyles. 

In  making  these  volumes,  the  authors  have  not 
failed  to  realise  that  more  has  been  included  than  a 
strict  interpretation  of  the  title  could  warrant.  But 
it  seemed  impossible  in  giving  Paris  to  omit  Reims,  in 
writing  of  Noyon  to  ignore  Laon, — historical  connection, 
architectural  comparisons  were  inevitable,  and  the 
geographical  convenience  of  the  traveller  and  the 
student  demanded  that  Cathedrals  so  closely  allied 
should  be  considered  in  one  book.  The  sub-divisions, 
therefore,  have  not  been  grouped  according  to  localities, 
but  rather  according  to  the  predominating  influence  of 
the  successive  ''schools"  of  architecture  which  built  in 
and  around  the  Isle-de-France;  and  it  has  been  the 
authors'  endeavour,  not  alone  to  describe  the  setting 
of  past  scenes— the  angle  of  the  arch  and  the  sculpture 
of  the  column — ,  but  to  picture  a  very  few  of  those 
historic    events   which    constantly    occurred    in    these 


Preface  v 

venerable  churches  during  centuries  gone-by,  to  induce 
others  to  listen,  when  standing  in  the  solemn  quiet  of 
Cathedrals,  for  the  vibrant  echoes  of  the  strenuous 
Middle  Ages. 

As  in  former  books,  it  is  a  pleasure  to  acknowledge 
indebtedness,  not  only  to  the  friends  who  have  helped 
us,  to  Mrs.  W.  H.  Shelmire,  Miss  Frances  M.  Kyle, 
Mr.  Joseph  Rosengarten,  Mr.  J.  G.  Bullock,  and  Mr. 
C.  R.  Pancoast,  but  also  to  the  Department  of  the 
Beaux-Arts  in  France  for  plenary  authorisation,  and 
to  the  Clergy  of  the  Church  for  access  to  private 
records  and  volumes  not  otherwise  obtainable. 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

"  Beautiful  and  unaffected  ornamentation,  ...  an 
extraordinary  height  of  pillars, boldness  and 

LIGHTNESS  OF  GRACE." — Bourges        .  .    Frontispiece 

"TO    SEE    ONE    IS    TO    SEE    .    .    .    ALL,    FOR    ARE    THEY    NOT 

PRACTICALLY  ALIKE?" Roiietl  ....  4 

"It  has  stood  in  the  midst  of  intense  LIFE,  SORROW, 

perplexity,  and  joys." — Paris       ....  7 

"The    north   of   France,   though    so    slow  .  .  .  was 
strong  and  intelligent,  and  having  received  .  .  . 
inspiration,  ceased  to  be  a  copyist  and  became  a 
CREATOR." — Amicus         .  .  .  .  .  .II 

"The  churches  of  this  small  bit  of  land  belong  al- 
most ENTIRELY  TO  SOME  GREAT  PHASE  OF  GOTHIC 
development." — Paris.  .....        13 

"  'The  unhewn   block    set   on    end   in    the    Druid's 

Bethel.'  "    .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .14 

"The    Gothic,  ...  a   system   of   pillars   buttressed 

AND  MADE  FIRM  BY  ARCHES." Amiens        .  .  .  15 

"Sometimes  the  'early'  Gothic  has  .  .  .  the  old, 
rounded  pillar  of  the  romanesque  with  the  new 
capital  of  leaves.  " — Paris  ....        19 

"The  flamboyant  is  to  the  pure  Gothic  that  which, 
in  Grecian  art,  some  charming  Venus  is  to  the 
grave  Minerva." — Rouen      .....       20 

"IN  THE  PERFECTION  OF  ITS  GROWTH,  THE  STYLE  .  .  .  CAST 
OFF  HEAVINESS;  INSTEAD  OF  ARCHAIC  SIMPLICITY  IT 
HAD   MEASURED    BEAUTY;     IN    PLACE    OF    MASSIVENESS 

.  .  .  majesty." — Amiens         .....       21 

"  THE  WORKERS  OF  THE  COUNTRY-SIDE  ABOUT  .  .  .  CHAR- 
TRES  LOOK  UP  AND  SEE  IN  THE  DISTANCE  THE  GREAT 
BODY  OF  THE  CHURCH  AND  ITS  SPIRES.  "        ...  25 


X 


Illustrations 


"  The  narthex.  " — Paris       ...... 

"They  added  towers  that  pointed  heavenward  and 

HELD  THE  BELLS.  " — LaOtl  . 

"Till       WALLS    .    .    .    WERE     BROKEN,     AND     MASTER-WORK- 
MEN IN  GLASS  I  LOSED  THE  OPENINGS  WITH  VAST    .    .    . 
WINDOWS    WHOSE    RICH    COLOURS    SHED    A    .    .    .    GLOW 
THROUGHOUT  THE   EDIFICE."  —TroyeS 

"Beautiful  and  measured  sculpture  is  necessary  to 

mii    GOTHK    [DEAL.  "--Amiens 
"The  Normans  find  the  finest  church  at  Rouen." 
"The  Berrichons  find  the  finest  church  at  Bour 

GES."     ........ 

"A    LARGER    AND    MORE     HOMOGENEOUS    PIECE    OF    EARLY 

Gothic." — Noyon  ..... 

"The    lofty    grandeur    which    characterises    Beau 

VAIS.       . 

"The  nave  of  Laon." 

"Tin-:  nave  of  Paris.  "... 

A  Bishop's  cloister  and  garden. — Auxerre 

A  Canon's  cloister. — Noyon 

In  hhe  city  of  "  Godfrey,  Bishop  oi  Amiens." 

A  Bishop's  city.    -Meaux      .... 

"  The  Bishop's  cloister.  " — Laon 

"The  Home"  of  the  Bishop  of  Beauvais     . 

An  ii  i  i  stration  of  "am mai.  symbolism. " — Paris 

A   MODERN    "CROSS"  of  Till-:  NORTH    MM  I     OF  ClIAKTRES 

"Christian  cnstruction  was  found  ...  in  the  ever- 
present,       [NSISTENT    .    .    .    SCULPTURED       STORY.  "- 
Amiens  ........ 

'■Till.  SCULPTORS  SEEM  io  HAVE  DETERMINED  TO  [LLUS- 
IKAII  Mil  rREMENDOUS  MASS  01  D0<  I  Kl  M..  HISTORY. 
AND  I'll    l  \    l\   I  III    'I   NIVERSAL  MIRROR '  OF  VlNCENT  OF 

Beauvais."     Chartres    ...... 


PAGE 
27 

31 


33 

36 
4i 

45 

48 

49 

52 
53 
57 
"3 
68 
70 
73 
77 
82 

87 
89 


91 


Illustrations 


"'The  Scriptures  ...  of  the   laity  .  .  .  they  .  .  . 
this  see  what  they  ought  to  follow,  and  things 

ARK  SEEN  THOUGH  LETTERS  BE  UNKNOWN.'"  —Paris    .         95 

"Ridiculous monstrosities." — Paris    .         .         .         -97 

"A  HALF-MAN." PiU'is  ......  98 

"The  carving  of  the  clown  teaching  a  monkey  to 

read." — Bourges  ......      ioo 

"The  material  edifice  in  which  the  people  come 
together  .  .  .  signifies  the  holy  catholic  church 
which  is  builded,  in  the  heavens,  of  living 
stones." — Auxerre  ......      101 

"The  pillars  be  doctors,  who  do  hold  up  spiritually 

the  temple  of  God." — Beauvais      ....      103 

"The   portrayal  of  .  .  .  familiar  Biblical  scenes." 

— Amiens       .  .  .  .  .  .  .111 

"In     sculpture     he     was    carved  .  .  .  ridiculously, 

horribly." — Paris  .  .  .  .  .  .114 

A  " CATHEDRAL  DOOR. " — Chartres   .....      117 
"Everywhere  the  supremacy  of  Christ  is  proclaim- 
ed,"— the  "Beautiful  God  of  Reims.  "         .  .      123 

"God  was  glorified  in  .  .  .  the  prophets  of  the  old 

dispensation." — Amiens         .....      124 

"In  more  than  one  of  the  older  cathedrals  of 
the  Isle-de-France,  the  sculptures  illustrate 
a  wonderfully  developed  .  .  .  theological 
scheme." — Chartres         ......      125 

"TO   THOSE    ON   THE    SLOW-MOVING    BARGES   AND    BOATS   OF 
THE    RIVER,    IT   IS   OFTEN    ONLY   THE   CATHEDRAL    .    .    . 
WHICH  TELLS  THAT  A  CITY  IS  NEAR.  " Sens  .  .        I3O 

"Beneath  a  Romanesque  arch  ...  is  a  worn  bas- 
relief  of  Sen's  famous  visitor,  Thomas-a-Becket, 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury." — Sens      .  .  ,      132 

"This  retable  is  a  lovely  bit  of  Gothic  chiselling.  " — 

Sens      .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .134 


xii  Illustrations 


"THE    rRANSEPTS,  constructed  almost  four   hundred 

YEARS  I   \  I  I  R   1  II  \N  THE  BODY  OF  THE  CHURCH,  PRESEN1 
1111     GREATES1    CONTRAS1     m   THE    RETIRING   SOBRIETY 

(•i  mi  earlier  forms.  "  Sens  ....  135 
"Li  mi  1   Romanesque  ar<  adesopen  into  their  low  and 

-<  »mbre  mi  pi  11^. "     Sens  .....      139 

"The  mosi  charming  corner  of  ecclesiastical  Sens.  "      143 

••Tin     white  .  .  .  nave." — Sens  .  .  .  -151 

'I'lll,  A.ISL1    "I    "a  church  which  was  a  cathedral." — 

Soil  is    .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .155 

"Ii  is  A  church  of  imposing  gravity.  " — Sens        .         .     159 

"A    CHATEAU    Willi    VINE-COVERED    WALLS    AM)    A    OARDEN 

OF  STATELY  GRE1  N  <  I  >NES  AND  GRASS  PLOTS.  " — Sailis  l6l 

"Originally  this  cathedral  was  one  of  the  earliest 

of  Gothic  buildings.  "     Sailis       ....     164 

"Till     TRANSEPT,    .    .    .    Till-:  GRACEFUL  AND  FLOWERY  CON- 

ception  of  Martin  Cambiche.  " — Senlis  .         .     165 

"Till.  low  broad  gallery  of  the  triforium  in  its  mas- 
sive and  primitive  heaviness.  " — Senlis  .         .     169 

"il-  CENTRAL  PORTAL,  l!l  ILL  AT  THE  END  OF  THE  XII 
CENT1  RY,  I-  ONE  OF  Mil  EARLIEST  OF  GOTHIC  DOOR- 
WAYS."       Soil  is        .  .  .  .  .  .  -IJ3 

"Till-.  BEAUTIFl  1.  <  HAMBER  OF  CAPITULAR  SESSIONS,    .    .    . 

LARGE,   Rl  1   l  w.i  l  AK.    \M>  FULL  OF  LIGHT."  -  Xoyotl        177 

"IN  IHl.  DAMP  LITTLE  CLOSE,  A  WEEPING  WILLOW  CASTS  ITS 
SHADE WD  WILD-    AND   SHRUBS   OROW   AS    THEY 

will."     Noyon      .......      180 

"The  Corbauli  Gate.  " — Noyon  .  ....     181 

"A  low,  RE<  rANGULAR  BUILDING  OF  WOOD  AND  STONE 
ROOFED  WITH    I  ILLS    .    .    .    THE  CAPITULAR  LIBRARY.  " — 

Noyon  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .184 

"The  1  m  '.m\<.  demons  and  the  lost  soul."     Xoyon   .     190 

"Till      WXloi  -    MORI  \l.    WATCHES    FROM    HIS   VAN!  U.L." — 

Noyon  .........     191 


Illustrations  xiii 

PAGE 

"The  beauty  of  the  structure  does  not  lie,  as  is 
usual  in  Gothic  apses,  in  the  pinnacles  and  sup- 
porting BUTTRESSES,  BUT  IN  THE  SYMMETRICAL  DEVEL- 
OPMENT OF  ITS  THREE  STORIES.  " — Noyon  .  .       192 

"The  WHOLE  WALL  consists  OF  COMPARATIVELY  SHORT 
ARCHES,  ...  SO  CUNNINGLY  DISPOSED  AND  SUPERIM- 
POSED THAT  THE  FIFTH  AND  HIGHEST  STORY  IS  REACHED 
WITHOUT  ANY  SENSE  OF  MONOTONY." Noyotl      .  .        I93 

"The  broad  gallery  which  is  succeeded  by  a  little 

triforium." — Noyon       ......      196 

"The  prototype  both  of  the  smaller  nave  of  Senlis 

AND  THE  GREATER  NAVE  OF  LAON.  " — Noyon         .  .        I97 

"The  ceiling  has  been  compared  to  that  of  a  fairy 
grotto  adorned  with  fanciful  and  lovely  stalac- 
TITES. " — Noyon      .  .  .  .  .  .  .      201 

"Architectural  conservatism  and  .  .  .  archaic  origi- 
nality WERE  DISPLAYED  HERE.  " — Noyon  .  .      205 

"THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  A  SMALL  HILL-TOWN." Laon  .       211 

"Adorned  by  heavy,  early  Gothic  pillars." — Laon     .     218 

A    LOW    WALL    EXTENDS    ALONG    A    STREET    FLANKING    THE 

SOUTHERN  SIDE  OF  THE  CATHEDRAL.  " — Laon         .  .       219 

"The  ten  .  .  .  bays  of  the  choir  stretch  in  a  long 

perspective." — Laon     ......     223 

"A  SQUARE  APSE  WHICH,  WHATEVER  ITS  INSPIRATION  WAS 

not  unworthy  of  French  builders." — Laon  .     227 

"A  GREAT  PILLAR  .  .  .  FLANKED  BY  FOUR  SLENDER  COL- 
UMNS."— Laon         .......   235 

"The  .  .  .  slender  Gothic  of  the  gallery  of  Notre- 

Dame  of  Paris."  .......     236 

"This  beautiful  gallery." — Laon        ....     237 

"Breaks  the   upward   line    into  more    symmetrical 

proportions." — Laon     ......     240 

"But  the  glory  of  the  cathedral's  .  .  .  great  stone 

book  of  theology  is  printed  on  the  facade." 

Laon     .........      243 


X1V  Illustrations 


"the  heads  of  .  .  .  boeswillwald  and  nleuwerkerke 

were  conspicuously  carved  on  the  western  wall.  "    246 

"The  recognition  of  the  lowly  found  during  the 
middle  ages  .  .  .  within  the  church,  has  no  .  .  . 
more  artistic  expression  than  ix  these  big  oxen." 
— Laon  ........     249 

"  LAOX  IS  A  CATHEDRAL  OF  COMPARATIVELY  SIMPLE  STYLE.  "        253 
"  A  NOOK  IN  THE  TOWER.  " — Laon  ....       257 

"The   slender  towers  .  .  .  rise  above  massive   sus- 
taining walls." — Laon  .....     260 
"Its  noble  and  majestic  simplicity." — Laon  .  .     261 
"Laon    stands    most    nobly    on   ...  a  HIGH,   isolated 

HILL."  ........        263 

"The  upper  walls  of  the  church  rise  in  the  un- 
spoiled  splendour  of  their  sombre  antiquity." — 
Paris     .........      267 

"Although  it  is  both  beautiful  and  effective,  this 

spire  is  hut  lead  and  wood." — Paris     .  .  .     270 

"The  flyino-buttresses  of  Notre-Dame  are  magni- 
ficent IN  DARING  AND  SUCCESSFUL  ORIGINALITY." — 
Paris  .  .  .  .  .  .  .271 

In  this  portal,  '"one  sees  that  rules  were  being 
established,  .  .  .  reason  replaced  imagination. 
But  at  the  same  time,  execution  had  become 
more  even,  more  scientific.'" — Paris      .  .  .     275 

"The  looming  facade  of  the  cathedral." — Paris         .     289 

"The  Virgin   before  the  northern  doorway  ...  is 
the  Queen-Mother,  the  serene  and  wise  protec- 
tress TOWARDS  WHOM  THE  XIII  CENTURY  ASPIRED.  "- 
Paris     .........      292 

"Adam,   bowed  with  thought  and  responsibility.  "- 

Paris     .........      296 

"Chimeric  al  beasts." — Paris       .....     297 
"Notre-Dame   seems   filled   with   the   earnest  and 
still    sombre    faith    which    emerged    from    the 
terrors  of  the  year  iooo.  " — Paris         .  .  .     299 

"Tui';  cathedral  in  which  Henry  iv  was  crowned," — 

Chartres        ........        304 


Illustrations  xv 


"In  the  sculptures  of  the  xiii  century,  .  .  .  Satan 

...    IS  MORE  DEPRAVED  AND  LESS  ALARMING." — Paris     307 

"The  angel"  of  the  roofs. — Paris       ....     310 
"Who  can  read  the  mythical  zoologies  of  their  age 
and  doubt  that  these  artists  derived  their  inspir- 
ations from  the  famous  medieval  bestiaries?" — 
Paris    .........     314 

"The   elephant   with   his   nose   can  throw  down  a 

dragon." — Paris  .  .  .  .  .  .  .315 

'"The  gargoyle  overhanging  the  wall  .  .  .  the 
grotesque  clambering  about  the  towers  or 
perched  upon  pinnacles.'" — Paris  .  .  .     316 

"THE  TRANSEPT  'GIVES  TO  THE  CHURCH  .  .  .  THE  RICH  AND 
SOMBRE    GLORY    OF    ITS    WINDOWS    AND    ITS    ROSE.'" 

Paris     .........      317 

"It  is  interesting  to  see  that  here,  in  THE  EARLIEST 

PART  OF  THE  EDIFICE,  MASSIVENESS  OF  PROPORTION,  A 
STRONG   CHARACTERISTIC    OF  THE   ROMANESQUE,    STILL 

prevails." — Paris  ......      321 

"Gothic  traits  become  more  .  .  .  pronounced,  .  .  . 
and  hidden  in  the  dark  side-aisles,  the  cluster- 
ing of  little  columns  about  the  sturdier  parent 
shaft  is  a  beautiful  advance  upon  the  consistent 

USE  OF  THE  ROUND  PILLAR.  " — Paris  .  .  .       325 

"In  the  triforium  also  slender  COLUMNS  ARE  MULTI- 
PLIED."— Paris       .......      328 

"A  BASE,  DECORATED  WITH  NARROW  ARCHES,  SUPPORTS 
THE  LARGE  CARVED  PICTURES  WHICH  REPRESENT 
EPISODES  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  OUR  LORD.  " Paris  .        .       T>29 

The  balustrades  of  "the  modern  rectory." — Paris    .     330 
"A  curious  detail." — Paris  .....     335 

"The  tympanum  represents  the  xii  century's  per- 
sistent ideal  of  Christ,  the  glorious  Christ  sur- 
rounded BY  THE  FOUR  EVANGELISTIC  SYMBOLS.  " — 
Bourges  ........      341 


xvi  Illustrations 

PAGE 

"The  doors  are  preceded  by  a  construction  of  which 
their  original  builders  could  scarcely  have  con- 
ceived.  " — Bourges  ......     344 

"This  crypt  is  as  mysterious  in  origin  as  .   .   .  in  its 

CHILL  AND  VAULTED  DARKNESS.  " — Bourges  .  .       345 

"THE  ELEGANCE  .  .  .  AND  STRENGTH  OF  THE  HEAVY  LINES 
AND  PROPORTIONS  AND  Till:   BEAUTIFUL  SIMPLICITY  OF 

the  sculpture." — Bourges      .....      349 

"The  cathedral's  comparatively  low  triforium  and 
clerestory  .  .  .  defects  of  its  magnificent  pro- 
PORTIONS. " — Bourges       ......      353 

One  of  the  "five  aisles  of  the  nave." — Bourges  .     355 

"A  glimpse  of  the  facade." — Bourges  .  .  .     357 

"On  the  dividing  pier  of  the  central  portal  Christ 
stands    and    blesses.  .  .  .  the    tympanum    tells 

THE  STORY  OF  THE  LAST  JUDGMENT." — Bourges  .       361 

"These    five    portals  .  .  .  are    very    impressive. "- 

Bourges 363 

"A  GROVE  OF  STIFF  LITTLE  PINNACLES." — BourgCS     .  .       365 

"It  has  been  compared  to  a  vast  tiara." — Bourges       .     367 
"The  interior  of  the  cathedral  ...  is  greater  and 
more  original  than  any  part  of  the  exterior." 
Bourges  ........     379 

"A  SUCCESSION  OF  WINDOWS,  GALLERIES,  AND  VAULTS 
WHICH  RISE  .  .  .  MEASUREDLY  IN  EACH  OF  THE  AISLES, 
TILL  THE   HEIGHT   OF   THE   GREAT   VAULTING    HAS    BEEN 

reached." — Bourges       ......  383 

"It    has    the     BEAUTIFUL,    MEDITATIVE    ISOLATION    OF    A 

CLOISTERED  WALK. " — Bourges  .      '        .  .  .  385 

"A  STATELY,  GREY  FOREST  OF  HIGH  PILLARS. " — Bourges     .  389 

"TlIE  EXTERIOR  OF  THE  CHURCH  IS  GIGANTIC." — Bourges  39I 


LIST  OF  WORKS  CONSULTED 

Allou,   Monseigneur.     Notice   historique   et  descriptive  sur  la 

Cat  lied  rale  de  Meaux. 
Audsley,  W.  and  G.     Handbook  of  Christian  Symbolism. 
Barreau,  L'Abbe.     Description  des   Vitraux   de    la    Cathedrale 

de  Beanvais. 

Notes  sur  la  Cathedrale  de  Bourges. 
de  Beaurepaire.     Les  Architectes  de  la  Cathedrale  de  Rouen. 
Bonnaffe.     Le  Meuble  en  France  an  X  Vie  Steele. 
Bourasse,  J.  J.     Les  plus  belles  Cathedrales  de  France. 
de  Caumont.     Abecedaire  dy  Archeologie. 
Chase,  P.  E.     Intellectual  Symbolism. 
Clements.  C.  E.     Handbook  of  Christian  Symbols  and  Stories 

of  the  Saints. 
Clerval,  A.     Chartres,  sa  Cathedrale,  ses  Monuments. 
Cloquet,  L.     Les  grandes  Cathedrales  du  monde  catlwlique. 
Corberon,  P.     Auxerre,  sa  Cathedrale,  ses  Monuments. 
Costello.     Life  of  Jacques  Ca'ur. 
Coutan.     Coup  d\vil  sur  la  Cathedrale  de  Rouen  auxXIc,  Xlle, 

et  XI lie  steel es. 
Cust,  A.  M.     Ivory  Workers  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
Daboval.     The  Town  of  Laon. 

Desjardins,  Gustave.     Ilistoire  de  la  Cathedrale  de  Beanvais. 
Durand,  Georges.    Monographic  de  Veglise  Cathedrale  d' 'Amiens. 
Evans,  E.  P.     Animal  Symbolism  in  Ecclesiastical  Architecture. 
Fergusson.     A  History  of  Architecture  in  all  Countries. 
Geldart,  Reverend  Ernest.     Manual  of  Church  Decoration 

and  Symbolism. 
GlRY,  A.     Les   Etablissements   de   Rouen. 
Gonse,  Louis.     V  Art  Gothique. 

xvii 


xviii  List  of  Works  Consulted 

Guerard.     Cartulairc  de  Viglise  Notre-Dame  de  Paris. 
G\  ettee,  L'Abbe.     Memoirs  de  VAbbe  Le  Dieu. 
Hah.,  JAMES.      Symbolism. 
Hoppin,  J.  H.     Great  Epochs  in  Art  History. 

The  Early  Renaissance. 
IIi'LME,  F.  E.     History,   Principles,   and  Practice  of  Symbolism 

in  Christian  Art. 
Huysmans.     La  Cathedrale. 

JOURDAIN  ET  DUVAL,   MM.  LES  CHANOINES.      Stalk's  et  Clotures 
dit   Clhcitr  de  la   Cathedrale  d' Amiens. 

Knight,  R.  P.     Symbolical  Language  of  Ancient  Art  and  Mytho- 
logy. 

Lear,  H.  S.     Bossuet  and  his  Contemporaries. 

LEFEBRE-PONTALIS,  E.     Histoire  de  la  Cathedrale  de  Xoyon. 

LoiSEL,   L'Abbe  A.      La    Cathedrale  de  Rouen  avant  Vincendie 
de  1200. 

McCrie.     Early    Years  of  John    Calvin. 

MacDowall,  H.  C.     Agrippa  d'Aubigne. 
"     "     Henry  of  Guise. 

M  \rtix.     Monographic  des    Yitraux  de  Bourges. 

Memain.     Sens:  histoire  et  description. 

MlLMAN.     History  of  Latin   Christianity. 

Mohler,  J.  A.     Symbolism. 

Moore,  Charles  H.     Development  of  Gothic  Architecture. 

"     Precis  descriptif  et  historiquc  de  la  (  \ithcdrale 
de  Xoyon. 

Morisox.     Life  of  Saint  Bernard. 

Paten6tre,  L'Abbe  E.     La   Cathedrale  de   Troves. 

Pehan,  L'Abbe  L.     Beauvais. 

Roze,  L'Abbe.     Visite  a  la  Cathedrale  a" Amiens,  Soissons:  Ses 
Monuments.     Ses  Etablissements.    Ses  Souvenirs. 

RusKIN.      The  Bible  of  Amiens. 

Smith,  L.  P.     Symbolism,  and  Science. 

Smith,  R.  T.     History  of  the  Church  in  Prance. 

STANFORD,  C.     Symbols  of  Christianity. 

Thierry,  Aug.     Lettres  sur  /'  histoire  de  France. 

TOURNEUR,   L'ABBE   Y.      Description    MstoHque    et  archeologiquc 
de  Notre-Dame  de  Reims. 


List  of  Works  Consulted  xix 

VALLET   de   VlRIVlLLE.     Charles    VII. 

Verneuil,    M.    P.     Dictionnaire    des    Symboles,    Emblemes    et 

Attributs. 
Vixycomb,  John.     Fictitious  and  Symbolic  Creatures  in  Art. 
VroLLET-LE-Duc.     Dictionnaire  raisonne. 
Winkler.     French  Cathedrals. 


The   Gothic 


INTRODUCTION. 

There  are  those  whom  no  phase  of  human 
TLbC  existence,  no  phase  of  nature,  sea,  river,  or 
(Botbic.  mountain,  can  attract,  who,  even  with  the 
subconscious  suggestiveness  which  memo- 
ries can  bring,  are  untouched  by  pictured  representa- 
tions of  persons  or  things.  There  are  those  to  whose 
ears  all  music  is  one  mass  of  dull,  monotonous  sound, 
and  others  for  whom  any  limpid  verse  or  sonorous  line 
is  equally  prosaic.  No  form  of  the  ideal,  however  ex- 
quisite, however  lofty,  can  have  an  universal  appeal. 
It  is  therefore  not  surprising  that  architecture  is  some- 
times neglected,  nor  that  the  most  noble  form  of  Chris- 
tian art,  the  Gothic  church,  should  be  uninteresting 
to  some  persons  of  intelligence  and  feeling. 

That  which,  however,  must  always  be  beyond  the 
real  church-lover's  comprehension  is  the  repeated  state- 
ment of  many  travellers  who  rush  eagerly  from  the 
North  Cape  to  the  Bosphorus,  that  "to  see  one  or  two 
Gothic  churches  is  to  see  them  all,  for  are  they  not  all 
practically  alike  ? 

"Are  they  not  all  merely  a  combination  of  towers 
and  portals  and  aisles  and  windows  and  columns  and 
arches?" 

3 


4  The  Gothic 

This,  to  the  Cathedral-lover,  is  as  if  a  ereature  of 
another  evolution,  looking  upon  the  human  species, 
should  say:  "  They  have  arms,  legs,  heads,  and  hands, — 


"TO    SEE    ONE    IS    TO    SEE       .        .        .       ALL,    FOR    ARE    THEY    NOT 
PRACTICALLY    ALIKE?  " — ROUEN. 

even  in  such  minute  details  as  the  position  of  their  ears 
and  eyes,  they  are  alike;  we  can  perceive  no  significant 


The  Gothic  5 

difference  in  them."  As  the  eager  traveller  is  a  human 
being,  he  would  be  apt  to  resent  such  a  hasty  and  inap- 
preciative  classification  of  his  race  and  to  retort,  also, 
that  he  can  see  no  analogy  between  persons  and  church- 
es, between  living  and  inert  masses,  and  that  his  mind 
is  broad  enough  to  admit  that  there  are  many  differences 
in  churches  which  are  of  vast  importance  to  architects. 
He  is  willing  to  concede  that  the  enthusiastic  specialist 
may  find  variations  in  the  shapes  of  the  noses  of  the 
Apostles  who  adorn  the  facades,  or  even  diversity  in 
the  Apostles  themselves,  but,  for  himself,  he  finds  such 
details  uninteresting.  Nevertheless,  there  are  multi- 
tudes of  untechnical  folk  who  pass  many  happy  hours 
in  the  churches  of  an  older  Christianity,  and  who  enjoy 
the  characterisations  of  the  Apostles  and  even  the 
differences  in  the  shapes  of  their  noses.  The  true 
Cathedral-lover  may  be  defined  as  a  'prentice  archi- 
tect, a  bit  of  an  artist  and  psychologist,  and  an  inquir- 
ing— if  not  a  curious — friend  of  the  people  of  the  past. 
Not  only  to  him,  but  to  any  one  who  lingers  in 
churches,  the  likenesses  in  the  Gothic  are  neither  so 
profound,  nor  so  striking  as  their  differences.  Even 
the  poorer,  more  numerous  types,  as  the  Church  of  our 
Lady  at  Alencon,  or  that  of  Saint  Stephen  of  Beauvais, 
are  monotonous  in  their  mediocrity  rather  than  in  their 
sameness ;  and  the  great  edifices  which  are  the  glory  of 
the  Isle-de- France  are  full  of  the  most  beautiful  origi- 
nalities. Like  the  human  body,  they  have  their  nor- 
mal, constituent  parts;  they  have  towers  and  portals, 


6  The  Gothic 

aisles  and  galleries,  columns,  arches,  and  windows, 
but  in  these  similarities  they  seem  as  different  physi- 
cally— and  even  spiritually — as  people.  The  analogy 
between  the  human  being  and  the  church  has  not  the 
inherent  artificiality  of  many  pathetic  fallacies;  for, 
again  and  again,  a  church  seems  like  some  old  and 
famous  person,  it  bears  the  marks  of  age  and  of  great 
experiences;  it  has  stood  in  the  midst  of  intense  life, 
sorrow,  perplexity,  and  joys,  and  all  these  things  have 
helped  to  make  it  what  it  now  is;  and  just  as  life  burns 
out  the  living  soul  of  man,  so  it  has  marked  the  mate- 
rial mass  of  the  church,  and  given  to  it  new  meaning 
and  character. 

In  no  land,  perhaps,  has  churchly  architecture  had 
at  once  so  full  and  dignified  a  development  as  in  France, 
and  through  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  country  are 
to  be  found  most  interesting,  artistic,  and  concrete 
expressions  of  religious  thought,  from  the  X  to  the 
XX  centuries.  The  religious  Middle  Ages  illustrate 
a  two-fold  evolution,  the  development  of  theological 
theories,  and  that  of  a  new  and  great  art  of  con- 
struction, and  those  who  study  the  record  of  human 
struggle  towards  spiritual  thought,  find,  in  wandering 
through  these  churches  of  France,  the  illustration  of 
the  mediaeval  chapter  of  their  thesis,  and  follow  the 
human  imagination  in  one  of  its  most  ardent  and 
sublime  efforts  to  materialise  an  ideal. 

In  order  to  follow  this  evolution  it  would  be  well  to 
begin  in  the  South  of  France  where  the  earlier  steps 


IT   HAS   STOOD   IN   THE  MIDST  OF  INTENSE   LIFE,   SORROW,   PERPLEXITY: 
\ND   JOYS.  " PARIS. 


The  Gothic  9 

can  be  clearly  and  fully  traced,  to  linger  in  the  humble 
and  dignified  basilican  Church  of  Digne  and  the  early 
Baptistery  hidden  among  the  Alps  at  Riez ;  to  study  the 
crude  religious  carvings  of  the  doors  of  Maguelonne, 
the  lonely  church  of  the  Mediterranean  marsh-land; 
and  gradually  to  reach  the  splendid  carvings  of  Saint- 
Gilles  and  Aries,  which  are,  nevertheless,  theologically 
simple;  and  finally  to  consider  the  later  and  more 
developed  art  and  theology  which  is  illustrated  in  Albi 
and  Rodez. 

Although  introduced  in  the  North  of  France  later 
than  in  the  Midi,  Christianity  was  firmly  established 
there  several  centuries  before  the  earliest  architecture 
of  which  coherent  examples  survive;  and  the  same 
constructive  phases  were  repeated  as  in  the  South. 
Of  these  forms  the  student  of  the  churches  of  the  Isle- 
de-France  sees  but  little.  The  North,  though  so  slow, 
so  barbarous,  and  so  backward,  was  strong  and  intelli- 
gent. It  learned  the  manner  of  the  South;  but  as  a 
suggestion,  not  as  an  imitation;  and,  having  received 
the  inspiration,  ceased  to  be  a  copyist  and  became  a 
creator.  Wars  devastated  many  of  the  earlier,  imita- 
tive structures,  and  made  place,  as  it  were,  for  the  build- 
ings of  the  new  and  local  genius.  Where  older  churches 
survived  the  perils  of  sieges  and  fires,  it  was  sometimes 
decided  to  destroy  them  that  they  might  be  succeeded 
by  nobler  edifices. 

According  to  the  plan  of  its  Bishop,  the  old  Roman- 
esque nave  of  Le  Mans  would  have  been  replaced  by 


io  The  Gothic 

one  far  more  majestic,  and  the  poor,  plain  aisles  of  the 
"  Basse  CEuvre"  of  Beauvais  were  in  turn  to  have  been 
demolished  to  give  place  to  the  most  glorious  and  lofty 
nave  in  the  world.  Neither  of  these  great  plans  was 
consummated;  but  in  many  other  instances  there  was 
a  fortuitous  or  a  deliberate  destruction  of  the  old,  and 
the  re-building  was  accomplished  in  the  new  form. 

For  these  reasons,  as  well  as  because  of  the  increas- 
ing wealth  of  the  North  and  the  impetuous  power  of  its 
new  genius,  the  old  disappeared  before  the  new;  and 
during  the  centuries  when  the  Midi,  in  the  general  de- 
cline of  its  greatness,  still  persisted  in  the  native  man- 
ner, or  made  splendid  but  too  often  abortive  attempts  to 
build  after  the  style  of  the  North,  this  Gothic  became  in 
its  own  country  the  only  acceptable  school  of  architec- 
ture. Other  forms  may  still  be  found,  but  above  the 
Rhone  the  Gothic  is  at  home;  like  the  Romanesque  in 
Provence,  it  is  supreme;  and  this  assertion,  generally 
rather  than  universally  true  in  the  outlying  districts, 
is  almost  literally  true  of  the  I sle-de- France  and  the 
territory  which  is  immediately  adjacent  to  it.  The 
churches  of  this  small  bit  of  land  belong  almost  entirely 
to  some  great  phase  of  Gothic  development,  and  have 
only  those  traces  and  admixtures  of  Romanesque  which 
pleasantly  and  subtly  suggest  interesting  comparisons. 

The  traveller  in  the  South  and  in  the  Midland,  con- 
tinually meeting  the  juxtaposition  of  the  three  great 
French  styles,  is  often  glad  to  remember  that  the 
rounded   arch   belongs  to  the   Romanesque,   that  the 


THE    NORTH    OF    FRANCE,     THOUGH    SO    SLOW     .     .     .    WAS    STRONG    AND    IN- 
TELLIGENT,    AND      HAVING      RECEIVED    .     .     .    INSPIRATION,     CEASED 
TO   BE   A    COPYIST    AND    BECAME    A    CREATOR." AMIENS. 


The  Gothic  13 

developed  domical  scheme  proclaims  the  Gallo-Bvzan- 
tine,  and  that  the  Gothic  uses  the  pointed  arch.  But 
as  he  comes  northward  and  meets  the  "Transitional," 
"Flamboyant,"  and  "purely  Gothic,"  complexities 
gather,  and  the  simple  definition  becomes  inadequate. 


THE     CHURCHES   OP   THIS    SMALL  BIT    OF    LAND    BELONG    ALMOST    ENTIRELY 
TO    SOME    GREAT    PHASE    OF    GOTHIC    DEVELOPMENT." PARIS. 

The  opinions    of    learned    minds  on  this  subject  are 
interesting. 

"Where  was  Gothic  born?"  asks  Huysmans,  and 
himself  answers,  "In  France.  ...  It  penetrated  into 
Normandy  and  from  there  into  England;  then  it 
gained  the  borders  of  the  Rhine  in  the  XII  century 
and  Spain  at  the  commencement  of  the  XIII.      In 


14 


The  Gothic 


the  repartition  of  religious  art,  France  has  had  only 
architecture.  Consider  the  early  painters  and  sculp- 
tors, they  are  all  Italians,  Spaniards,  Flemings,  and 
Germans; — but  archil ee!  ure  is  our  own"  ;  and  it  may  be 
said  that  "Gothic  architecture,  comprehensively  speak- 
ing, reached  its  highest  point  of  perfection  in  France, 


"'THE    UNHEWN    BLOCK    SET    ON    END    IN    THE    DRUID'S    BETHEL.'" 


where  it  is  at  home  and  where  it  also  achieved  its  highest 
beauty,  even  as  the  influence  of  soil,  sun,  and  climate 
make  the  Cedar  of  Lebanon  lift  its  head  into  the  clouds." 
"  It  was  the  apogee  of  a  form  of  mediaeval  construc- 
tion," writes  James  Floppin,  "signifying  a  system  of 
wonderful  cohesion,  grandeur,  and  beauty,  in  which 
the    creative    imagination    is    equalled    only    by    the 


THE  GOTHIC. 


A     SYSTEM     OF    PILLARS     BUTTRESSED     ANT.    MADE     FIRM 
BY     ARCHES.  "  —  AMIENS. 


15 


The  Gothic  17 

mechanical  skill,"  and  Ruskin  says  that  "  from  the  un- 
hewn block  set  on  end  in  the  Druid's  Bethel  to  the 
Gothic  Cathedral,  this  Lord's  House  and  blue- vit railed 
gate  of  Heaven,  you  have  the  entire  course  and  con- 
summation of  the  Northern  Religious  Builder's  passion 
and  art." 

These  seem  introductory  rather  than  definite  phrases 
and,  with  greater  technique  of  expression,  Durand 
describes  this  "Northern  Religious  Builder's  Art"  as 
"a  system  of  pillars,  buttressed  and  made  firm  by 
arches  both  transverse  and  longitudinal;  it  is,  in  a 
word,  a  bone  structure  of  stone  where  blank  walls 
are  reduced  to  a  minimum,  where  no  element  enters 
which  is  not  exacted  by  the  construction,  and  where 
the  effect  is  produced  solely  by  the  happy  assemblage 
and  harmonious  proportions  given  to  all  these  ele- 
ments." "It  is,"  writes  another  with  paradoxical 
terseness,  "a  system  of  suppressed  walls."  Within 
the  church  it  is  essentially  an  arrangement  of  columns 
and  pointed  arches  bounded  by  roofs  and  walls;  with- 
out, it  is  again,  and  essentially,  arches  made  into 
sculptured  portals  and  windows  and  towers. 

A  writer  in  the  Edinburgh  Review  has  given  another 
and  perhaps  more  broadly  philosophical  definition. 
"We  find,"  this  author  claims,  "that  Gothic  architec- 
ture stands  for  energy  and  strength  in  action,  and  is 
the  outcome  of  an  age  which  glorified  energy  and  made 
it  a  vehicle  for  the  expression  of  all  ideals.  The  theory 
it  embodied,  that  eternal  truths  can  be  expressed  in 


i8  The  Gothic 

terms  of  action,  may  have  been  a  delusion.  Never- 
theless, it  was  a  great  and  splendid  delusion.  For  a 
century  it  was  acclaimed;  for  a  second  century  it  was 
clung  to;  during  a  third  it  was  gradually  abandoned. 
During  three  centuries  this  great  delusion  dominated 
the  life  of  Europe,  and  of  this  mighty  influence  Gothic 
architecture  is  the  adequate  surviving  manifestation. 
Here  lies  its  true  and  lasting  value.  It  is  the  clue  to 
the  secret  of  three  centuries  of  history,  and  the  una- 
nimity of  the  impulse  behind  it  gives  it  an  human 
and  historical  significance  unparalleled  in  art." 

Materially  speaking,  the  style  is  recognised  in  three 
well-defined  phases,  and  these  phases  have  in  turn 
many  smaller  differences.  Differences  which  form 
multitudinous  minutiae  are,  however,  suitable  material 
onlv  for  such  a  philosophic,  intricate,  and  delicate 
exposition  of  architecture  as  Viollet-le-Duc's  wonder- 
ful Dictionary.  The  traveller,  eager  to  enjoy  many 
arts,  has  not  sufficient  leisure  to  taste  these  delights  of 
the  specialist,  and  therefore  studies  only  the  marked 
characteristics  of  the  so-called  "early,"  "pure,"  and 
"  Flamboyant"  forms. 

The  "early"  Gothic,  which  is  often  termed  transi- 
tional, is,  as  its  name  implies,  the  more  or  less  tenta- 
tive, evolutionary  stage  of  the  style.  Sometimes  it 
has,  as  at  Notre-Dame  of  Paris,  the  old  rounded  pillar 
of  the  Romanesque  with  the  new  capital  of  leaves; 
sometimes,  as  at  Senlis,  the  arch  is  bluntly  pointed,  but 
the  capital  still  has  animals  and  scenes  and  figures,  the 


The  Gothic 


J9 


elaborate  and  antique  mode  of  decoration.  With  the 
persistence  of  some  trace  of  the  old  influence,  round  col- 
umn, ornate  capital,  or  obtusely  pointed  arch,  this  early 
Gothic  is  also  marked  by  more  subtle  signs  and  proofs 
of  a  Romanesque  heritage.     The  nave  of  Paris  is  lofty, 


"SOMETIMES    THE    'EARLY'    GOTHIC    HAS    .      .      .    THE    OLD,    ROUNDED    PILLAR 
OF    THE  ROMANESQUE    WITH    THE    NEW    CAPITAL    OF    LEAVES.  " PARIS. 

but  it  has  the  heaviness  which  the  purer  form  rejected ; 
the  arcades  of  the  side  aisles  are  pointed,  but  they  are 
almost  squat ;  and  in  parts  of  Sens,  Noyon,  and  Laon, 
the  Gothic  is  like  a  lusty  infant  still  bound  in  the 
swaddling  clothes  of  its  mother,  the  Romanesque. 

In  the  perfection  of  its  growth,  the  style  achieved 
the  true  pointed   arch,   the  columns  were   no   longer 


20 


The  Gothic 


merely   round,    and    the   capitals  were  -  naturally   and 
gracefully  foliated.     It  cast  off  heaviness;  instead  of 

archaic  simplicity  it  had 
measured  beauty,  in 
place  of  massiveness  it 
acquired  majesty,  and 
sculpture  became  less 
elaborate,  more  differ- 
entiated, and  more  in- 
tellectual. Lofty  height 
was  an  ideal  nobly 
realised,  and  builders 
gave  to  their  churches 
great  uplifting  spacious- 
ness without  a  trace  of 
bareness. 

The  Flamboyant  i  s 
to  the  pure  Gothic  that 
which,  in  Grecian  art, 
some  charming  Venus 
is  to  the  grave  Minerva, 
or  as  the  Venus  de 
Medicis  is  to  the  noble 
Victor\-  of  Samothrace. 
Its  name  suggests  an- 
other, more  Northern 
comparison,  and  it  seems 
well  called  "the  flam- 
ing," "the  streaming";  for  much  as  in  the  old  Sagas, 


Till-:     FLAMBOYANT     IS    TO    THE    PURE 

'.'i  I  lilt         THAT       WHICH,     IX     GRECIAN 

ART,     SOME     CHARMING    VENUS     IS 

TO       THE       GRAVE       MINERVA." 

ROUEN. 


IN    THE    PERFECTION    OF    ITS    GROWTH,    THE    STYLE    .     .     .    CAST    OFF    HEAVI- 
NESS;  INSTEAD     OF    ARCHAIC    SIMPLICITY    IT    HAD    MEASURED    BEAUTY; 
IN    PLACE   OF    MASSIVENESS     .     .     .    MAJESTY." AMIENS. 


The  Gothic  23 

Loki's  tongues  of  fire  are  seen  to  curl  about  rock  and 
crevice  and  lick  the  trunks  of  the  trees,  so  the  tendrils 
of  Flamboyant  carving  twine  and  twist  about  the  stone 
of  porch  and  arch  and  pillar.  The  art  has  become 
over-refined,  intricate,  fanciful;  in  its  finest  creations, 
it  has  sacrificed  the  charm  of  measured  perfection  to 
uncontrolled  luxuriance.  In  its  more  unbridled  va- 
garies, even  when  a  certain  tropical  fascination  may 
exist,  Flamboyant  is  effeminate  and  decadent;  vines 
twine  in  meaningless  prettiness  and  the  Temple  of  the 
Lord  shows  signs  of  transformation  into  a  sort  of  lovely 
Gothic  Arbour.  Beauvais  and  Sens  possess  fine  and 
legitimate  conceptions  of  this  form,  and  the  Church  of 
Saint-Maclou  of  Rouen  is  very  pretty,  although  merely 
irreligious  and  wayward  Gothic. 

Extravagance  in  art  seems  to  produce  much  the 
same  result  as  extravagance  in  life;  the  wages  of 
artistic,  as  of  human,  sin  are  barrenness  and  death; 
and  so  the  Gothic  ceased  to  be  a  dominating  architect- 
ural force  and  was  replaced  by  the  poorer  and  more 
mechanical  Pseudo-Classic. 

All  this  architectural  history  is  well  illustrated  by 
the  churches  of  the  Isle-de-France.  Although  they 
succeed  the  period  of  the  Romanesque,  there  are  in- 
crusted  in  their  walls  sufficient  remains  of  older  church 
buildings  to  suggest  and  to  explain  every  heritage 
which  the  ancient  style  bequeathed.  The  Transitional 
is  nobly  and  fully  represented.  As  is  fitting,  the  purest 
Gothic  is  the  most  fullv  illustrated.     The  Flamboyant, 


24  The  Cathedral 

among  its  expressions,  has  a  tower-crown  at  Rouen, 
transepts  at  Beauvais,  Sens,  and  Senlis,  and  a  facade 
at  Tours;  and,  finally,  the  loss  of  all  architectural 
comprehension,  taste,  and  originality  is  shown  with 
sad  accuracy  in  the  episcopal  churches  of  Blois  and 
Versailles.  In  no  part  of  the  land  is  Romanesque 
poorer  nor  Pseudo-Classic  more  coldly  irreligious  than 
in  the  old  Royal  Domain,  but  nowhere  in  the  world 
in  so  small  a  space  of  country  are  there  so  many 
glorious  architectural  conceptions  as  are  to  be  found 
in  the  Gothic  of  this  Isle-de-France. 

"  Dominating  the  landscape  and  the  town 
QbC  or  village  beneath,  occupying  the  central 

Gatbefcral.  space,  sight,  and  thought,  the  Cathedral 
proclaimed  itself  near  and  far  as  the  golden 
mile-stone,  the  Heavenly  Habitation,  and  the  House  of 
God.  It  caught  the  beams  of  the  rising  sun  and  was  red- 
dened by  its  setting  glow.  It  was  the  last  object  viewed 
by  those  who  went  from  home  and  the  first  by  those 
who  returned.  It  was  the  familiar  feature  of  the 
scenery.  All  higher  hopes  and  joys  clustered  about  it. 
It  wrote  itself  against  the  sky.  It  called  the  mind  of  the 
burdened  and  earth-oppressed  to  think  of  the  infinite 
power  and  love."  These  pregnant  sentences  of  Hop- 
pin's  must  often  have  recurred  to  the  Cathedral-seeker's 
mind.  In  the  South  at  Lectoure,  Auch,  Valence,  and 
Carcassonne,  at  Avignon,  Bczicrs,  and  Forcalquier, 
he  must  have  been  impressed  by  1><>ih  their  literal  and 


The  Cathedral 


25 


their  doctrinal  accuracy;  and  in  many  an  episcopal 
town  of  the  North,  the  living  truth  of  the  words  must 
have  come  again  and  again  to  his  memory,  and  always 
with  a  new  sense  of  sympathetic  comprehension.  As 
the  carter  slowlv  brings  his  load  from  the  quarry  near 


"THE    WORKERS    OF    THE    COUNTRY-SIDE     ABOUT    .     .     .     CHARTRES     LOOK    UP 

AND     SEE     IN     THE     DISTANCE     THE    GREAT     BODY    OF    THE 

CHURCH     AND    ITS     SPIRES." 

Bayeux,  the  church  looms  persistently  before  him. 
The  workers  of  the  country-side  about  Seez  and  Char- 
tres  look  up  and  see  in  the  distance  the  great  body  of  the 
church  and  its  spires,  and  the  bells  of  the  Mass  and 
Angelus  call  to  them  across  the  fields.  High  above 
the  Yonne,  the  Church  of  Auxerre  stands  as  a  reminding 


26  The  Cathedral 

symbol  of  religion,  the  peasant  toiling  up  the  steep 
hillside  to  the  market-place  of  Laon  also  sees  contin- 
ually the  towers  of  Notre-Dame;  and  it  would  perhaps 
be  difficult  to  realise  all  the  spiritual  inspiration  which 
the  sight  of  these  buildings  has  given  to  tired,  strug- 
gling, and  discouraged  humanity  in  every  generation 
of  the  past  six  hundred  years. 

The  journey  from  these  churches  of  the  North  to 
their  first  source  of  inspiration,  the  atrium  and  basilica 
of  the  Roman  house  is  far  and  interesting.  The  atrium 
being  a  court,  a  thoroughfare  for  all  members  of  the 
Roman  household  and  even  for  slaves,  every  wealthy 
family  had  its  "basilica,"  or  reception  hall,  modelled 
after  the  larger  public  edifices,  and  divided  by  columns 
into  three  aisles.  At  the  extreme  end  of  the  little 
structure  and  opposite  the  door,  in  the  "  bema  "  or  apse, 
the  master  of  the  house  sat  and  received  his  guests.  It 
was  in  this  hall  of  the  citizen's  house  and  in  its  court- 
yard that  Christian  worship  was  first  celebrated  in 
Rome.  The  Bishop  occupied  the  master's  seat,  the 
clergy  were  grouped  about  him,  and  the  Christian 
Altar  was  placed  on  a  step  just  above  the  altar  to 
the  ancestors  of  the  family.  "  To  the  early  Christian 
converts,  this  was  significant.  The  Altar  was  dedi- 
cated to  their  new  Head,  the  second  Adam ;  Christ  was 
the  '  Lar  f amilice  pater, '  the  new  family  was  the  Catho- 
lic Church.  The  congregation  occupied  not  only  the 
atrium  but  also  the  rooms  looking  into  it;  and  when,  at 
Troas,  Eutychus  fell  from  a  window  while  Saint  Paul 


'THE    NARTHEX.     PARIS. 


The  Cathedral  29 

preached,  he  did  not  drop  into  the  street,  but  into 
the  courtyard.  The  Apostle  stood  by  the  Altar  on 
the  step  of  the  tablinum. 

"  In  the  Apocalypse,  Saint  John  described  the 
worship  in  heaven  after  the  pattern  already  settled 
in  the  Church  on  earth.  There  is  the  throne  of  God, 
answering  to  the  episcopal  throne  in  the  apse.  .  .  . 
The  four  and  twenty  elders  are  ranged  round,  like 
presbyters,  clothed  in  white.  The  rainbow  found 
about  the  throne  is  the  ring  or  cornice  of  rich  colouring 
found  in  the  tablinum.  In  the  midst  is  the  Altar,  on 
which  is  the  Lamb  as  He  has  been  slain — a  reference 
to  the  Eucharistic  sacrifice;  and  before  it  is  the  sea  of 
glass, — in  fact,  the  impluvium.  The  whole  picture 
of  worship  on  earth  in  a  private  dwelling  is  sublimated 
to  present  the  worship  in  heaven." 

The  study-ground  of  the  evolutionary  stages  from 
this  "picture  of  worship  ...  in  a  private  dwelling" 
to  the  Gothic  church  is  not  the  North,  but  the  South 
of  France.  There,  at  Vaison,  the  place  for  the  Bishop's 
throne  may  still  be  seen  behind  the  Altar;  and,  at 
Saint-Paul-trois-Chateaux,  a  low  bench  for  presbyters 
still  encircles  the  hemicycle  of  the  choir.  Farther 
North,  at  Saint-Front  of  Perigueux,  there  is  the  form 
evolved  from  the  atrium,  the  narthex  or  porch.  "  This, 
in  the  early  ages,  had  great  importance,  for  the  catechu- 
mens were  remitted  there  .  .  .  and  sent  outside  before 
the  consecration  of  the  mysteries.  Penitents  were  not 
admitted  within,  but  might  attend  the  service  without, 


30  The  Cathedral 

in  the  porch,  and  the  porters  had  strict  orders  to  keep 
the  gates  against  the  excommunicated  and  the  unini- 
tiated. The  curtains  found  in  the  apse  of  the  pagan 
basilica  became,  when  it  was  converted  into  a  Christian 
chancel,  an  integral  part  of  the  ritual ;  they  were  drawn 
together  at  the  consecration  .  .  .  and  are  represented 
on  several  of  the  early  tombs  of  the  catacombs.  .  .  . 
They  have  long  ago  disappeared  in  the  West;  but  our 
mediaeval  rood-screens  may  be  said  to  have  taken  the 
place  of  the  primitive  veil." 

Other  more  and  less  subtle  changes  slowly  developed, 
but  for  these  also  it  is  South  and  not  North  of  the  Loire 
that  the  archaeologist  seeks  most  successfully.  Many 
of  the  churches  of  the  Northern  provinces,  and  those 
especially  of  the  Isle-de-France,  have  so  added  to 
their  first  prototype  that  their  classical  heritage  is  much 
obscured.  The  tracing  of  pedigree  belongs  more 
properly  and  is  more  clearly  followed  in  the  histories 
of  churches  in  other  localities,  and  it  is  sufficient  to 
remember  that  the  aisles  and  the  absidal  form  recall 
the  Roman  citizen's  "basilica,"  that  the  parvise  and 
narthex  are  the  descendants  of  the  atrium,  as  the  crypt 
is  reminiscent  of  the  dark  and  tragic  catacomb.  From 
this  small  nucleus,  the  genius  of  builders  created  new 
and  often  beautiful  conceptions.  They  added  towers 
that  pointed  heavenward  and  held  the  bells,  they 
multiplied  the  forms  and  the  religious  carvings  of 
the  portals,  and  they  sometimes  increased  the  number 
of  the  aisles  and  added  many  chapels.     "It  is  during 


The  Cathedral 


31 


the  course  of  the  XIII  century,"  writes  Viollet-le- Due, 
"that  the  apsidal  chapels  receive  all  their  develop- 
ment. The  Eastern  ends  of  the  Cathedrals  of  Reims, 
Amiens,  and  Beauvais,  built  between  1220  and  1270, 
give  us  remarkable  examples  of  this.  It  is  then  that 
the  apsidal  chapel,  placed  in  the  axis  of  the  church 


THEY     ADDED     TOWERS     THAT     POINTED     HEAVENWARD      AND     HELD     THE 
BELLS.  " LAON. 


and  dedicated  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  commences  to 
assume  an  importance  which  grows  during  the  XV 
century,  until  it  soon  becomes  a  small  church  an- 
nexed to  the  apse  of  the  larger  one,  as  in  the  Cathe- 
dral of  Rouen,  and,  later,  in  nearly  all  the  churches 
of  the  XV  centurv." 


32  The  Cathedral 

:'The  highest  art  of  the  Middle  Ages,"  claim  the 
writers  of  "Mediaeval  Europe,"  "was  expressed  in  the 
building  and  ornamenting  of  churches.  .  .  .  Archi- 
tects' names,  however,  are  rarely  known  in  these 
Middle  Ages.  As  the  'chansons  de  geste'  were  grad- 
ually formed  by  a  succession  of  unknown  trouveres,  so 
were  our  superb  Cathedrals  built  by  bodies  of  workmen 
still  unrecognised.  They  seemed  to  be  a  spontaneous 
and  impersonal  expression  of  the  French  genius.  And 
finally  let  us  note  that  the  uniform  triumph  of  Gothic 
architecture  was  contemporaneous  with  two  Kings, 
founders  of  French  unity,  and  completed  harmoniously 
the  period  in  which  the  Middle  Ages  reached  their 
highest  point." 

The  development  of  the  style,  its  additions  of  chapels 
and  towers  and  aisles,  necessitated  new  proportions, 
and  such  great  structural  and  ornamental  devices  as 
flying  buttresses.  Builders  seem  to  have  vied  with 
each  other  in  originality  and  beauty  of  conception,  and 
men  like  Vilart  de  Honnecourt,  the  distinguished 
pupil  of  the  Cistercian  brothers,  travelled  into  Hungary, 
a  long  and  tedious  journey  in  those  days,  to  study  the 
practice  of  the  profession.  "Artist-builders,"  con- 
tinue Bemont  and  Monod,  "were  admirably  seconded 
by  other  artists,  even  less  known  than  they.  Sculp- 
tors cut  figures  of  men,  animals,  and  plants  in  the 
greatest  profusion.  As  time  advanced  it  is  strange  to 
see  how  much  more  elaborately  they  represented  vege- 
tation.     The  rudimentary  flora  of  the  time  of  Philip 


'THE  WALLS  .    .     .  WERE  BROKEN,    AND  MASTER-WORKMEN  IN  GLASS  CLOSED 

THE    OPENINGS  WITH    VAST    .     .     .    WINDOWS  WHOSE   RICH   COLOURS 

SHED   A    .     .     .    GLOW   THROUGHOUT   THE  EDIFICE.  " TROVES. 

3  33 


The  Cathedral  35 

Augustus  was  greatly  elaborated  in  the  XV  cen- 
tury. The  vault  of  the  apse,  which  is  semicircular  in 
form,  the  plain  surfaces  of  the  triumphal  arch  which 
divides  the  nave  from  the  transept,  .  .  .  sometimes 
even  the  high  walls  of  the  nave,  were  at  first  decorated 
with  mosaics,  of  which  there  are  many  remains,  or  with 
paintings  in  distemper,  of  which  there  are  still  rare 
specimens ;  and  when  the  walls  of  the  nave  were  broken 
by  large  windows,  the  master-workman  in  glass  closed 
the  openings  with  vast  stained-glass  windows  whose 
rich  and  various  colours  shed  a  joyous  glow  throughout 
the  edifice,  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  spirit  of 
Catholicism  during  the  XII  and  XIII  centuries. 

"There  were  morose  spirits  or  rigorous  theologians 
who  thought  that  the  Church  went  too  far.  Saint 
Bernard,  of  one  mind  with  the  austere  monks  of  Cluny, 
condemned  the  immense  height  of  the  churches,  their 
extreme  length,  the  richness  of  the  polished  materials, 
and  the  paintings  which  attracted  the  eye.  He  de- 
plored the  expense  of  these  magnificent  buildings,  while 
so  many  human  beings  were  destitute.  The  moderate 
spirits,  like  Suger,  found  in  the  beauty  of  the  churches 
an  additional  reason  to  praise  God.  Goldsmiths  and 
workers  in  enamel  vied  in  decorating  objects  used  in 
church  ceremonies,  Pyxes,  Altar-tables,  Croziers,  Mon- 
strances, Reliquaries,  and  Shrines.  So  did  illumina- 
tors of  liturgical  books  keep  pace  with  the  weavers  who 
worked  at  the  most  beautiful  woollen  stuffs  or  brocaded 
silks  which  were  used  in  church  worship." 


36 


The  Cathedral 


( )f  all  accessory  arts,  two  only  are  necessary  to  the 
perfection  of  the  Gothic  Cathedral.  Painting  is  of 
doubtful  merit ;  tapestries,  and  even  the  wood-carver's 
art,    are   purely   accessory;    Pyxes,    Monstrances,    and 


"BEAUTIFUL  AND  MEASURED    SCULPTURE    IS    NECESSARY 
TO     llll      GOTHIC    IDEAL." AMIENS. 

Missals  are  ornaments  of  liturgical  rather  than  archi- 
tectural significance;  but  sculpture  and  stained-glass 
are  essential  parts  of  the  church  itself. 

If  beautiful  and  measured  sculpture  is  necessary  to 


The  Cathedral  37 

the  Gothic  ideal,  stained-glass,  although  apparently 
an  alien  art,  is  even  more  requisite.  A  church  without 
stained-glass  is  like  a  painting  that  has  been  onlv 
"  drawn  in. ' '  In  this  vital  sense,  the  interiors  of  Amiens 
and  of  Laon,  although  they  have  nave  and  transepts, 
are  almost  as  maimed  and  unfinished  as  Beauvais ;  and 
Troves,  Reims,  and  Chartres,  which  have  both  struc- 
tural development  and  stained-glass  windows,  have 
reached  a  greater  perfection  of  completeness  than  any 
other  Gothic  Cathedrals  of  France. 

Under  the  old  Romanesque,  sculpture  had  reached 
a  high  degree  of  executory  power  and  beauty.  The 
new  form  brought  less  artificiality,  less  complexity, 
more  measure,  and  more  naturalness;  but  it  was  an 
adopted,  not  a  new  art.  Stained-glass,  on  the  contrary, 
seems  a  Gothic  possession.  If,  in  its  inception,  it  was 
not  conceived  for  the  special  adornment  of  the  Gothic 
church,  it  nevertheless  flourished  and  grewr  to  that 
one  end,  and  all  its  noble  periods  of  creation  are  coin- 
cident with  the  growth  of  the  "pointed"  architecture. 
When  Flamboyant  declined,  stained-glass  also  degen- 
erated. 

Like  all  art,  stained-glass  had  its  schools  and  its 
periods,  and  a  voluminous  and  important  history; 
and  the  Gothic  edifices  of  the  Isle-de-France  con- 
tain so  many  of  the  finest  specimens  which  have 
survived,  and  the  tones  of  stained-glass  are  so  in- 
timately essential  to  the  beauty  and  completion  of 
the    church,    that    they  demand    a    description,    even 


38  The  Cathedral 

if,  in  itself,  it  must  necessarily  be  short  and  in- 
adequate. 

The  chief  periods  of  this  art-form  have  salient 
characteristics.  In  the  XII  and  XIII  centuries  a 
school  arose  and  declined,  the  school  of  glass  mosaics 
whose  artists  took  small  pieces  of  glass  of  dominating 
colours,  minute  particles  of  blues,  reds,  greens,  and 
yellows,  arranged  them  like  multitudes  of  tiny  jewels 
within  the  great  settings  of  the  window  frames,  massed 
them  about  the  medallions  which  held  the  paintings 
of  Biblical  and  legendary  subjects,  used  them  as  the 
background  of  the  storied  scenes,  and  finally  placed  a 
rich  border  with  interlacing  leaves  and  flowers,  some- 
times graceful  and  sometimes  sumptuous,  about  the 
whole  design. 

Until  the  end  of  the  XIII  century,  when  a  little  shadow 
and  relief  were  introduced,  pictorial  glass  had  no  perspec- 
tive. Medallion  scenes  were  still  portrayed  flatly  and 
vividly ;  a  new  design,  one  large  figure  of  a  Saint  or  a 
great  ecclesiastic,  began  to  appear  in  the  high  windows; 
and,  in  these  ways,  masters  of  the  craft  performed  the 
theological  duty  which  was  part  of  every  churchly 
art  of  Medievalism.  The  inchoate  masses  of  glass 
which  lay  about  the  scenes  and  even  about  the  tall, 
saintly  figures  were  often  more  important  than  the 
subjects  themselves,  and  it  is  here  that  the  conspicuous 
distinction  of  this  school  was  achieved.  The  coloured 
bits  were  marvellously  toned,  and  welded  into  sheets 
of  transparent  mosaics  that  gave  the  most  admirable 


The  Cathedral  39 

and  majestic  effects  of  light;  and  of  the  two  inspira- 
tions of  the  French  workers  of  the  XIII  century, 
the  desire  to  illustrate  sacred  history,  and  to  fill  the 
church  with  "dim  and  religious"  atmosphere,  the 
latter  is  at  once  the  more  characteristic  and  the  more 
perfectly  executed.  Their  solemn,  yet  resplendent 
tone  harmonies  have  never  been  surpassed,  and  perhaps 
not  even  reached,  by  any  one  of  the  other  great  schools 
of  stained-glass,  and  it  is  generally  admitted  that  the 
art  realised  its  highest  degree  of  perfection  in  the  style 
which  may  still  be  studied  at  Bourges  and  Chartres  and 
Reims,  the  mosaic  form  of  the  XIII  centurv. 

The  XIV  century  is  not  so  much  a  period  of  pro- 
gress as  of  transformation.  The  old  ideas  did  not 
attain  to  a  higher  expression;  but  having,  as  it  would 
seem,  reached  the  plenitude  of  their  power,  the  artists 
experimented  and  imagined  new  things.  These  new 
conceptions  were  beautiful,  but  tentative,  and  when 
large,  single,  statue-like  figures  of  Christ  and  the  Saints 
rather  than  scenes  from  their  lives  were  designed, 
niches  and  dais  began  to  be  reproduced  in  glass  with 
all  the  architectural  ornamentation  of  the  times;  and, 
as  this  ornamentation  increased  in  luxury,  the  details 
of  the  windows  which  held  these  magnificent  figures 
became  more  and  more  numerous  until  all  the  delicate 
complexities  of  the  Flamboyant  were  shown  in  the 
glowing  glass  imitations  of  architectural  forms.  To 
hold  the  larger  pictures  a  more  extended  space  was 
necessarv,  and  the  restricting  medallion  frames  were 


40  The  Cathedral 

not  alwavs  used.  Stiffness  began  to  give  place  to  a 
true  plasticity  and  the  study  of  perspective,  shadow 
effects,  and  draper)-. 

All  the  trend  of  the  XIV  century  was  towards  the 
painter's  realm,  workers  in  stained-glass  began  to 
consider  the  execution  of  sculptural  or  pictorial  repre- 
sentations as  important  as  the  colouring  of  the  glass 
itself.  In  a  word,  their  art  had  no  longer  the  simple, 
original,  primary  aim  which  its  name  implies,  that 
of  staining  glass;  it  no  longer  stood  in  independence  of 
the  other  arts;  it  was  becoming,  like  fresco,  a  part  and 
parcel  of  painting. 

The  next  hundred  years  saw  a  still  more  marked 
accentuation  of  these  tendencies;  staining,  pure  and 
simple,  had  become  of  secondary  importance,  colouring 
waited  upon  the  exigencies  of  design,  tones  were  less 
richly  intense,  and  the  small  medallion  form  was 
discarded. 

The  XV  century  brought  the  period  of  fully  de- 
veloped Renaissance,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  epochs 
of  painting  on  glass.  When  colouring  is  called  less 
"rich"  it  is  not  to  be  considered  pale  or  attenuated. 
It  has  merely  changed  in  quality,  and  lost  in  intensity, 
n<  >1  in  beauty.  It  is  no  longer  sombre  in  glory,  resl  ful, 
conducive  to  meditation;  it  glows  and  sparkles  and 
vividly  tells  the  painter's  story.  Domes  and  pinnacles 
and  lanterns  of  architecture  form  stately  linear  per- 
spectives  for  the  background  of  the  figures.  Grace, 
magnificence,  nobility,  and  even  license  are  depicted 


THE    NORMAN'S    FIND    THE    FINEST    CHURCH    AT    ROUEN 


41 


The  Cathedral  43 

in  the  saintly  scenes.  It  was  the  age  of  the  suave  and 
gracious  Raphael,  and  his  school  influenced  the  masters 
who  worked  on  the  delicate  canvas  of  glass. 

The  XVII  century  continued  this  development. 
Technically,  leads  were  no  longer  made  to  follow 
either  colour  or  line,  but  to  divide  the  glass  into  reg- 
ular blocks  or  squares.  There  was  the  same  per- 
spective, the  same  fineness  of  detail  as  in  painting,  the 
method  of  the  one  art  had  become  the  method  of  the 
other;  and  the  only  difference  between  stained-glass 
and  painting  on  canvas  was  the  difference  in  the  mate- 
rial of  the  background.  In  design,  the  reproduction  of 
architectural  forms  disappeared;  and  not  infrequently 
only  one  scene  covers  an  immense  window,  and  these 
magnificent  and  beautiful  scenes  measure  the  extent 
of  the  evolution  from  the  XIII  to  the  XVII 
centuries.  Asceticism  had  departed  from  devotional 
expression,  grace  replaced  strength,  the  concepts  had 
become  idealistic  rather  than  religious.  Stained-glass 
was  still  splendid ;  but  the  season  of  its  virility  was  past, 
and  little  insinuating  mannerisms  and  affectations 
foreshadowed  the  decadence  which  was  both  swift  and 
complete.  In  the  XVIII  century,  a  terrible  blight 
seemed  to  fall  on  artistic  creation;  ecclesiastical  archi- 
tecture became  crassly  imitative,painting  prettily  con- 
ventional, sculpture  lost  every  trace  of  originality,  the 
taste  for  plain  white  windows  appeared,  and  the  art  of 
stained-glass  died. 

In  this  XX  century,  few  experiences  are  rarer  than 


44  The  Cathedral 

the  sight  of  a  church  whose  every  window  is  filled  with 
coloured  glass,  and  among  the  churches  of  the  Isle- 
de-France,  Chartres  alone  can  claim  this  beautiful 
distinction.  Bourges  has  its  cold  clerestories,  and  Sois- 
sons  its  grey  windows.  Meaux,  Tours,  Laon,  and  not 
a  few  others  are  sadly  flooded  with  ''white  light,"  and 
distorted,  as  it  were,  by  irreligious  glare.  Noyon 
is  barrenly  lighted ;  and  even  Troyes,  with  its  multitude 
of  lovely  windows,  has  transparent  panes  in  some  of 
its  chapels.  Nearly  all  these  Cathedrals  once  possessed 
much  magnificent  stained-glass;  but  among  the  arts  it 
is  the  most  fragile.  With  merely  reasonable  care  a 
canvas  may  be  preserved,  a  fresco  can  be  rescued  from 
beneath  a  coat  of  whitewash,  but  windows  that  have 
been  broken  by  intent,  by  accident,  by  political  revo- 
lution, by  the  explosion  of  a  powder  magazine,  or  by 
the  authorisation  of  careless  Canons,  can  seldom  be  re- 
stored; and  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  scores,  even 
hundreds,  of  these  beautiful  glass  pictures  have  been 
destroyed,  and  that  the  greater  number  have  disap- 
peared forever.  Happily  a  few  specimens  of  each 
school  have  been  saved,  and  no  mediaeval  church  of  the 
I sle-de- France  is  without  its  greater  or  lesser  treasure  of 
windows. 

It  lias  often  been  asked  which  among  the  greatest 
churches  is  the  most  beautiful — and  the  frequency 
with  which  the  question  is  repeated  seems  to  be  equalled 
only  by  its  futility  and  its  spontaneity.  In  answer, 
some  one  has  well  said  that  the  Normans  find  the  finest 


'the   BERRICHON'S   find   the  finest  church   at   bou kc.es. 


45 


The  Cathedral  47 

church  at  Rouen,  the  Picards  at  Amiens,  the  Champe- 
nois  at  Reims,  and  the  Berrichons  at  Bourges.  If  a 
cruel  examiner  placed  the  question  before  a  helpless 
student  who  was  a  native  of  no  one  of  these  places,  the 
reply  would  be  more  difficult. 

Versailles  represents,  if  not  the  degradation,  at  least 
the  senility  of  ecclesiastical  architecture;  Blois  shows 
an  earlier,  but  well-marked  phase  of  this  degeneration ; 
and  Orleans,  the  last  worthy  effort  of  a  weakening, 
vitiated  taste,  is  often  beautiful  but  shows  the  decline 
of  creative  ability.  There  are  earlier  churches  at  Meaux, 
Auxerre,  and  Soissons,  admirable  edifices  whose  inspira- 
tion was  suggested  rather  than  original ;  Rouen,  a  great, 
unharmonious  collection  of  fine  architectural  fragments 
of  all  the  mediaeval  periods;  Tours,  with  its  good, 
interesting  secondary  exterior,  and  its  one  exquisite 
perspective  in  the  nave;  and  Sens  which  claims  to  be 
the  earliest  among  Gothic  churches,  a  Cathedral  of 
moderate  charm,  dignified  in  its  essential  parts,  and 
radiant  in  its  Flamboyant  transepts.  There  is  Senlis, 
a  small  modest  building  of  an  early  type,  and  Noyon, 
which  is  at  once  a  larger  and  more  homogeneous  piece 
of  primitive  Gothic. 

Viollet-le-Duc  calls  Reims,  if  not  the  most  perfect, 
at  least  the  most  finished  of  churches,  an  edifice  royal 
in  the  completion  and  magnificence  of  its  strong,  virile 
style.  Paris  and  Reims  have  the  most  beautiful  and 
finished  facades.  That  of  Reims  has  force  dissimu- 
lated by  multitudes  of  fine  and  opulent  sculptures,  and 


48 


The   Cathedral 


has  been  fittingly  likened  to  a  woman  in  a  Queen's 
robes.  The  Western  wall  of  Paris  embodies  majesty  and 
strength,  and,  if  the  regal  simile  were  continued,  might 


"a    LARGER   AND  MORK    HOMOGENEOUS   PIECE  OF  EARLY  GOTHIC.  " — NO  YON. 


"the  lofty  grandeur  which  characterises  beauvais." 
4  49 


The   Cathedral  51 

be  compared  with  a  great  King  whose  rich  attire  adorns, 
but  does  not  conceal,  his  power.  Yet  neither  of  these 
Cathedrals  possesses  a  choir  of  that  lofty  grandeur 
which  characterises  Beauvais,  the  mutilated  suggestion 
of  the  most  sublime  Gothic  creation  which  architect 
ever  promised  to  the  world.  At  Amiens,  crudeness 
has  been  avoided  in  every  finished  part,  and  all  archi- 
tectural virtues  seem  blended  into  strength  and  har- 
mony. Amiens  is  called  the  "Parthenon  of  Gothic 
Architecture,"  yet  its  towers  are  virtually  truncated, 
and  Ruskin  avers  that  its  spire  is  only  "the  pretty 
caprice  of  a  village  carpenter."  Bourges  has  real 
mathematical  imperfections;  yet,  in  spite  of  them,  its 
nave  is  one  of  the  noblest  and  boldest  of  mediaeval 
buildings ;  it  is  unique,  not  in  the  sense  of  extravagance, 
nor  in  supremacy  of  style,  but  in  impressive  originality. 
The  slender  beauty  of  the  towers  of  Laon  and  the 
magnificence  of  Troyes's  five  aisles  are  to  be  found  only 
in  these  churches.  If  the  nave  of  Laon,  one  of  the 
purest  and  finest  examples  of  the  early  style,  had 
stained-glass  it  would  easily  rival  the  aisle  of  Paris ;  and 
its  exterior  exceeds  Paris  in  strange  originality  as  much 
as  it,  in  turn,  is  surpassed  as  a  whole  by  the  heavy  but 
superb  massiveness  of  the  metropolitan's  outer  walls. 
Chartres  is  a  church  of  the  highest  worth  whose  sturdy 
strength  is  never  without  interest  and  seldom  without 
beauty;  and,  if  not  irreproachable  in  the  harmony  of 
the  whole,  it  possesses  large  details  of  uncontested 
superiority,    and    its    delicate    spire    and    East    and 


52 


The   Cathedral 


West    porches    are    unequalled    in    form    and    orna- 
mentation. 

There  is  no  church  without  its  exquisite  corner,  but 


THE    NAVE    OF    LAON. 


"THE    NAVE    OF    PARIS." 


53 


The  Bishop  55 

it  is  Paris,  Reims,  Beauvais,  Chartres,  Amiens,  and 
the  nave  of  Troves  which  are  the  greatest  constructions 
of  the  "royal"  Gothic,  its  supreme  material  expres- 
sions of  "  the  beauty  of  holiness."  They  may  be  better 
described  than  compared;  and,  instead  of  losing  itself 
in  arduous  gradations  and  unnecessary  classifications, 
the  appreciative  mind  should  enjoy  and  be  grateful 
that  each  of  the  Cathedrals  is  so  august,  so  beautiful, 
that  they  may  not  illogically  be  named  together, 
and  that  there  is  not  one  only,  but  six,  and  perhaps 
seven  "finest"  and  "greatest"  churches  of  the  Gothic 
school  of  the  Royal  Domain. 

From    the    beginning    of    the    Christian 

XLbC         hierarchical  order,  the  Cathedral  was  the 

J6i5bop.      Bishop's  church.     But  as  the  form  of  the 

holy  edifice  changed  from  time  to  time, 
so  also  the  outward  seeming  of  the  Bishop  changed; 
and  if  the  ideal  of  the  "inward  spiritual  grace"  of  the 
Episcopacy  remained  one  and  unaltered,  its  outward 
and  visible  signs  underwent  many  radical  transforma- 
tions. The  first  Bishops  very  naturally  undertook  the 
direction  of  the  new  religious  body.  They  were  the 
friends  of  its  Founder,  and,  after  His  death,  they  be- 
came the  declared  inheritors  of  His  mission  on  earth 
and  the  logical  interpreters  of  His  words.  In  that 
sense  they  were  both  leaders  and  governors,  but  they 
played  no  part  in  the  civil  polity;  and  even  Saint  Peter, 
whom  the  Church  reveres  as  the  first    Pope,  was   in 


56  The  Bishop 

truth,  as  well  as  in  formula,  "the  servant  of  the 
servants  of  God." 

The  Roman  power,  so  brilliant,  so  world-wide,  had 
reached  its  zenith,  however,  during  the  lifetime  of 
Jesus.  i\t  first  imperceptibly,  and  at  length  less  grad- 
ually, it  waned,  until,  after  the  reign  of  Julian,  the 
administration  of  the  Empire  became  a  mere  mass  of 
essentially  impotent  machinery.  The  name  of  suzer- 
ainty was  retained,  but  the  actual  rule  of  province 
after  province  was  ceded  to  others ;  and  the  barbarians 
found  it  easy  to  seize  the  reins  of  power  from  people 
who,  accustomed  to  centuries  of  peace,  did  not  know 
how  to  protect  themselves. 

Christianity  had  now  become  a  recognised  world- 
force,  a  well-known  religion,  and  the  Bishops  naturally 
ceased  to  be  merely  pastors  of  souls.  The  holiness  of 
their  office,  the  traditional  sanctity  of  their  character, 
led  the  people  to  follow  their  worldly  advice  as  well  as 
their  spiritual  admonitions.  Insensibly  their  power 
spread,  and  imperial  justice  was  sometimes  directly 
delegated  to  them. 

To  the  incoming  conquerors  of  the  Roman  provinces, 
the  pagan  but  superstitious  and  impulsive  barbarian, 
this  priestly  character  was  impressive.  The  strange 
and  magnificent  sacerdotal  robes,  the  Bishop's  quiet 
accustomed ness  to  heedful  respect  and  to  power,  the 
deep  experience  which  made  him  psychologically  a 
master  among  men,  gave  him  a  power  over  these  victors 
which  was  the  more  potent  because  it  was  intangible. 


The  Bishop 


57 


If  the  Bishop  were  worldly,  he  took  advantage  of  his 
office,  his  training,  and  the  troubled  times  to  gain  civil 


A    BISHOP'S    CLOISTER    AND    GARDEN. AUXERRE. 


authority.     If  he  were  a   trustworthy  and    holy  char- 
acter, power  was  eagerly  thrust  on  him,  and  the  crea- 


58  The  Bishop 

tion  of  a  dominant  theocracy  in  this  time  of  anarchy 
was  predestined. 

Not  only  had  the  holy  or  masterful  character  of  the 
prelate  brought  him  political  consideration,  the  claims 
of  religion  also  induced  the  laity  to  add  to  the  wealth 
of  the  Church  and,  in  consequence,  to  the  might  of  the 
Episcopacy  and  of  the  Orders  by  gifts  and  offerings  of 
all  kinds.  This  liberality  of  the  great  lords,  of  Kings, 
and  often  of  the  priests  themselves,  had  constituted 
an  ecclesiastical  wealth  which  was  manifest  in  all  the 
forms  of  feudalism. 

The  Bishops  had  serfs,  farmers,  and  retainers;  they 
directed  and  governed  the  lower  clergy,  the  poor  whom 
they  fed,  and  certain  "freemen"  and  "freedmen"  who 
had  voluntarily  placed  themselves  under  churchly 
protection.  Under  the  Merovingians,  only  six  hundred 
years  after  the  death  of  Christ,  these  pastors  of  France, 
the  spiritual  successors  of  the  peasants  of  Galilee,  were 
great,  landed  proprietors  who  had  acquired  immense 
power,  they  were  distinguished  by  many  of  the  attri- 
butes of  temporal  sovereigns,  and  treated  directly 
with  their  Kings. 

In  the  cities,  all  the  ancient  municipal  privileges 
which  the  royal  agents  had  not  taken  fell  to  these 
churchly  lords,  the  Merovingians  ceded  many  other 
privileges  to  Convents  and  Monasteries,  the  Carlo- 
vingians  also  were  generous  to  the  ecclesiastical  estab- 
lishments, and  the  effect  was  to  exempt  Bishop  and 
Abbot  from  financial  taxation,  to  make  them  supreme 


The  Bishop  59 

in  their  own  domain,  and  even  to  keep  the  sovereign 
himself  from  interfering  judicially.  "It  has  been 
decided  by  the  Lord  King  and  the  Holy  Synod,"  reads 
a  capitulary  of  Charlemagne  promulgated  in  794,  "that 
the  Bishops  shall  exercise  justice  in  their  dioceses. 
If  any  one,  be  he  Abbot,  be  he  priest,  deacon,  subdea- 
con,  monk,  cleric,  or  even  another  person  of  the  diocese, 
does  not  wish  to  obey  his  Bishop,  the  case  shall  be 
taken  before  the  Metropolitan  who  will  judge  the  case 
with  his  suffragans.  Our  Counts  themselves  will  come 
before  the  judgment  of  the  Bishops."  If  the  Arch- 
bishop could  not  or  would  not  decide,  then  the  King 
was  to  be  appealed  to;  but  the  procedure,  clearlv 
established  even  in  those  early  times,  provided  for  the 
subordination  of  all  other  laymen  to  the  prelates  of  the 
Church. 

The  first  episcopal  pastors  are  well  portrayed  in 
Viollet-le-Duc's  city  of  Clusiacum, — accompanied  by 
faithful  priests,  and  often  converting  to  Christian  uses, 
to  the  care  of  the  poor  and  sick,  buildings  which 
had  been  abandoned  by  departing  Roman  rulers.  But 
these  patriarchal  friends  and  counsellors  of  the  people 
had  now  become  figures  of  the  past,  and  the  mediaeval 
Bishop  occupied  a  very  different  place  in  the  social 
order. 

The  mode  of  life  of  the  priests  had  also  changed ;  and, 
in  the  time  of  Pepin  the  Short,  Saint  Chrodegang  es- 
tablished, in  his  diocese  of  Metz,  a  Rule  "  for  the  clergy 
living  together  "  in  what  we  should  call  a  clergy  house. 


60  The  Bishop 

They  were  styled  "Canons"  and  the  institution  had  a 
great  prevalence  and  the  most  wholesome  effect  for 
some  centuries.  The  Rule  was  a  severe  one,  adapted 
from  that  of  Saint  Benedict  "with  such  changes  as 
would  fit  it  for  the  use  of  the  secular  clergy,"  and  the 
Canons  were  a  company  of  clerics  who  lived  in  the 
cite  and  near  the  Bishop  for  the  service  of  the  Cathedral. 
All  the  goods,  chattels,  moneys,  and  lands  which 
were  bequeathed  in  general  terms  "to  the  Church" 
were  administered  by  the  prelate  alone,  and  the  Chap- 
ter was  at  first  rich  with  his  riches  and  submissive  to 
him.  But  as  time  went  on,  these  priests,  living  in 
community,  found  themselves  bound  not  only  by  a 
religious  but  by  an  economic  tie.  Money  and  lands  were 
willed  to  them;  they  acquired  the  powerful  independ- 
ence which  material  possessions  give;  and  if,  in  the 
X  century,  they  were  still  far  inferior  to  the  Epis- 
copate, their  power  had  already  begun  to  be  felt. 
"Judiciary  rights,"  with  which  the  Bishop  could  not 
interfere,  were  claimed;  in  iioq  a  Chapter  actually 
excommunicated  its  Bishop,  Galone,  because  he  at- 
tempted to  seize  some  land ;  an  hundred  years  later  a 
prelate  could  exact  homage  from  a  Dean,  but  could 
not  suspend  him.  In  the  XIII  century,  the  Chap- 
ter had  also  acquired  the  power  to  excommunicate 
and  to  "throw  interdict,"  which  could  put  confusion 
into  a  whole  community;  for,  if  the  interdict  was 
"thrown  in  the  Cathedral,"  all  the  churches  of  the 
city   were   obliged    to   conform   to   its   regulations,    no 


The  Bishop  61 

bells  were  rung,  the  public  services  ceased.  The 
Canons  also  judged  in  Chapter  meetings  and,  in  the 
same  century,  one  of  their  bodies  had  such  large  power 
that,  for  the  offence  of  striking  a  priest,  it  solemnly 
sentenced  Henri  de  Biargis  to  expiate  his  sin  by  three 
years  of  exile  in  the  Holy  Land. 

At  times  confronted  by  this  powerful  force  among 
the  higher  clergy  who  often  had  the  stronger  spiritual 
weapons,  the  Bishop  had  also  continually  to  face  the 
encroaching  energy  of  the  noble,  Baron,  Count,  or 
Duke,  who  was  the  lay  lord  of  the  diocese.  In  these 
recurring  struggles,  the  overwhelming  strength  which 
the  arduous,  continual,  and,  as  it  were,  professional 
pursuit  of  the  science  of  warfare  might  have  given 
the  layman,  was  outweighed  by  the  fact  that,  as  a  vassal, 
he  was  continually  riding  forth  to  private  feud  or  on 
the  King's  service;  times  of  peace  were  few,  and  he 
seldom  resided  in  the  chief  city  of  his  domain.  The 
mediaeval  Bishop,  on  the  contrary,  was,  by  nature  of 
his  holy  calling,  exempt  from  almost  all  the  personal 
feudal  duties  of  the  Frenchman  of  rank;  as  vassal  of 
the  Pope,  he  was  seldom  required  to  do  homage  by  his 
presence  at  the  distant  court  of  the  Holy  See;  and  he 
was,  therefore,  not  only  a  landed  proprietor,  but  a 
continual  resident  of  the  episcopal  city,  and  by  gradual 
processes  of  absorption,  right,  and  assimilation,  his 
civil  prerogatives  became  more  and  more  pronounced. 

In  the  beginning,  it  seemed  natural  that  he,  the 
specialist,    the    expert     in     right     and    wrong,     who, 


62  The  Bishop 

"  holding  the  keys  of  Heaven  and  Hell,"  was  by  train- 
ing and  necessity  a  spiritual  and  moral  diagnostician, 
should  also  be  a  civic  judge.  In  the  XI,  XII,  and 
the  early  part  of  the  XIII  centuries,  the  con- 
demned could  compel  the  judge — or  his  representa- 
tive— to  descend  into  the  lists  and  decide  the  justice 
of  the  verdict  by  the  tourney.  But  the  Bishop's 
hall  of  judgment  soon  departed  from  its  vague,  patri- 
archal forms  and  became  a  feudal  court  based,  like  all 
kindred  organisations,  upon  the  "curia  regis."  During 
the  reigns  of  the  Capetians,  the  Bishop  acquired  the 
right  of  coinage;  and  even  if  he  were,  by  birth,  the 
merest  serf  in  the  kingdom  of  France,  he  became,  by 
virtue  of  his  priesthood  and  his  elevation  to  a  See,  a 
veritable  feudal  lord,  and,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
XI  century,  the  two  guardians  of  the  city,  its 
Bishop  and  its  Count,  were  not  infrequently  in  conflict. 

Families  gave,  and  families,  dying,  bequeathed;  but 
the  Church  persisted;  and  often  the  most  consider- 
able person  of  a  domain  was  the  prelate  and  not  the 
nobleman. 

In  1015,  we  read  that  a  certain  Count  Eudes  of 
Beauvais  was  led  "by  the  love  of  God"  to  present 
certain  of  his  possessions  "to  religion,"  and  the  occa- 
sion was  made  solemn  and  impressive.  Gorgeously  ap- 
parelled, the  Count  "presented  himself  before  the 
holy  church,"  the  Cathedral  of  his  city;  and,  entering, 
with  the  deed  in  his  hand,  walked  slowly  into  the  choir. 
There,  before  the  Bishop,  the  assembled  clergy,  and 


63 


The  Bishop  65 

the  townsmen,  he  placed  the  precious  parchment  on 
the  Altar,  ".so  all  people  could  see  and  remember  for- 
ever." 

Strange  and  anomalous  customs  arose  from  this 
interpretation  of  episcopal  state;  and  the  dual  func- 
tions of  priest  and  feudatory  seem  to  have  been  in 
greater  part  clashing  and  inconsistent.  There  were 
Bishops  who,  before  celebrating  Mass,  took  off  their 
iron  gauntlets  and  put  their  vestments  over  their 
coats  of  mail ;  and,  to  a  certain  degree,  these  garments 
typified  different  dangers  which  their  wearers  incurred. 
For  power  brings  foes,  and  the  prelate  had  as  possible 
enemies  his  Pope,  his  King,  the  Chapter,  the  Count, 
and  even  the  people. 

In  1 149,  Henry  of  France,  a  priest  and  brother  of 
Louis  VI,  was  raised  to  a  Bishopric  and  disagreed 
vehemently  with  some  of  his  new  vassals.  The  vassals 
appealed  to  the  King,  and,  with  his  aid,  ranged  them- 
selves against  the  royal  Bishop,  the  Chapter,  and  the 
Commune.  The  Metropolitan,  no  less  a  man  than 
Archbishop  Suger,  menaced  the  Commune ;  the  Bishop 
appealed  to  the  Holy  Father;  and  the  Pope  finally 
decreed  that  another  Archbishop,  Monseigneur  of 
Rouen,  should  excommunicate  all  the  disaffected  nobles 
who  happened  to  be  in  his  diocese,  that  Saint  Bernard 
should  interpose  between  the  King  and  his  brother,  the 
prelate,  and  that  in  these  ways  "peace  should  be 
rendered  to  the  Church." 

Material  power  brought  to  the  priesthood  not  only 


66  The  Bishop 

new  foes,  but  a  new  and  less  spiritual  quality  of  char- 
acter. Cardinal  Baromius,  who  lived  in  the  later 
XVI  and  early  XVII  centuries,  based  an  argument 
for  the  divine  authority  of  the  Church  upon  the  fact 
that  it  had  persisted  in  spite  of  all  defilements,  and, 
in  attestation  of  these  defilements,  he  quotes  the 
Bishop  of  Orleans  who,  at  the  Council  held  in  Reims 
in  991,  said  of  Pope  John  XII,  "To  seek  counsel  from 
such  a  monster,  even  if  he  sit  upon  a  lofty  throne 
blazing  with  purple  and  gold,  is  to  address  a  block  of 
marble." 

Again,  it  became  the  duty  of  the  Papacy  to  ful- 
minate against  the  Episcopate,  and,  at  the  death  of 
Richard  the  Lion-hearted,  Innocent  II  wrote  of 
Mercadier  and  Arnold  the  Gascon,  pillaging  bandits, 
"whom  the  enemy  of  the  human  race  has  cast  into 
the  world  as  instruments  of  iniquity."  These  routiers, 
continues  the  Holy  Father,  "have  concerted  with  the 
Archbishop  of  Bordeaux  and  spread  through  the 
province,  plundering  the  whole  country,  and  then 
have  given  up  a  portion  of  the  spoil  to  the  Archbishop, 
who  received  them  and  the  plunder  in  the  castle  of  one 
of  his  nephews.  From  this  stronghold,  which  they 
held  for  over  a  twelvemonth,  they  swept  the  neighbour- 
hood, desolating  the  land  and  taking  everything  upon 
which  they  could  lay  hands." 

"Alexander  of  Bourbon,"  writes  an  historian,  "cast 
aside  Holy  Orders  to  become  Captain  of  the  Flayers. 
The  parson  of  Rouquette  became  a  notorious  highway  ■ 


The  Bishop  67 

man;  .  .  .  the  fascination  of  this  lawless  life  gained 
even  the  clergy,"  and  the  terrible,  blasphemous  words 
of  Talbot  expressed  its  great  attraction:  "  If  God  came 
down  to  earth  now,  He  would  be  a  robber." 

During  these  conflicts  of  the  Church  against  the 
flesh,  the  devil,  and  the  powers  of  this  world,  in  which 
the  hierarchy  sometimes  conquered  the  evil  and  at  times 
was  invaded  by  it,  the  people  looked  on  with  deep  and 
often  passionate  interest. 

Their  sympathies  were  not  always  easy  to  predict, 
nor  can  the  part  of  the  Church  in  that  vital  struggle, 
the  communal  contests,  be  called  decisive.  Had  the 
Bishops  continued  to  be  "as  of  old,"  writes  Smith, 
"the  recognised  champions  of  the  poor,  the  communes 
would  have  found  helpers  in  every  See,  but  the  Bishops 
were  now  feudal  lords,  involved  in  the  complicated 
machinery  of  feudal  society,  and  the  worldly  character 
of  many  prelates,  who  had  attained  their  place  by 
purchase,  was  little  likely  to  induce  them  to  favour 
liberty.  Nevertheless  there  were  cases  in  which  the 
Bishop  suffered  with  the  people  in  their  struggle." 

This  closing  sentence  is  but  just.  Among  the  men 
who  formed  the  mediaeval  Episcopate,  there  are  many 
holy,  even  saintly  personages.  The  martial,  dramatic 
figures  naturally  occupy  the  centre  of  the  stage  of 
French  ecclesiastical  history;  but  those  who  do  not 
see  the  Saints  and  the  patriots,  the  greater,  often 
humbler,  and  too  often  unfortunate  prelates,  do 
not  perceive   the  Church's   truer   part,  and   take   but 


68 


The  Bishop 


a  partial  and  narrow  view  of  her  labours.     The  way 
of  the  good  priest  was  not  always  easy.     "Godfrey, 


IN    THE    CITY    OF    "GODFREY,    BISHOP    OF    AMIENS." 

Bishop     of     Amiens,"     continues     Smith,     "willingly 
surrendered    his    seignorial    rights    for    the    establish- 


The  Bishop  69 

ment  of  a  commune,  but  the  lords,  who  possessed 
similar  claims,  refused  to  follow  his  example  and 
desolated  the  country  with  fire  and  sword, — upon 
which  the  inhabitants  who  were  opposed  to  the  com- 
mune accused  the  Bishop  of  bringing  war  upon  them. 
In  despair  at  the  condition  of  his  Sec,  the  good 
Bishop  resigned  his  position,  and  was  compelled  by 
the  Council  of  Soissons  to  return  to  it." 

The  reward  of  righteousness  and  self-denial  was  so 
often  ingratitude,  the  possibility  of  worldly  pomp  so 
great,  that  the  priest  who,  entering  his  See,  preserved 
spiritual  ideals  and  led  a  truly  religious  life  was  neces- 
sarily a  man  of  exceptional  strength  and  purity  of 
soul.  The  opportunities  for  petty  but  exceedingly 
lucrative  peculations  were  innumerable;  and  although 
the  Bishop  possessed  no  shocking  "rights,"  such 
as  passing  the  first  twenty-four  hours  with  each 
bride  within  his  domain,  which  is  said  to  have 
been  the  privilege  of  the  Princes  of  the  line  of 
Polignac,  his  power  was  not  without  strong  traces 
of  simony. 

At  Beauvais,  no  public  way  could  be  built  and  no 
dwelling  could  even  be  repaired  without  the  permission 
of  the  Bishop — which,  it  is  claimed,  was  never  a  gratuity. 
It  was  not  till  the  reign  of  Louis  VI,  in  1122,  that  the 
citizens  of  the  town  were  allowed  to  re-build  without 
the  episcopal  authorisation  an  old  or  burned  house— 
and,  even  then,  three  satisfactory  witnesses  had  to 
testify    that    no    improvements    had    been  introduced 


7o 


The  Bishop 


and   that   the   reconstruction   reproduced   the   former 
structure  in  every  particular. 

Public  ways  and  watercourses  belonged  to  the  pre- 
late, he  sold  the  permissions  to  build  bridges  and  even 
to  throw  planks  across  small  streams,  and  if  a  bridge 


A    BISHOP  S    CITY. MEAUX. 


had    been    destroyed,    an   "act"   of    the   Bishop  was 
necessary  before  it  could  be  re-made. 

( )f  all  the  nominal  rulers  which  a  commune  might 
possess,  King,  noble,  or  prelate,  the  latter  was  the  most 
omnipresent  and  unavoidable.  For  that  general  and 
impersonal  reason  he  was  at  times  the  most  unpopular 
overlord.     The  Count,  often  absent,  gave  the  burghers 


The  Bishop  71 

a  more  favourable  opportunity  for  independence  of 
action.  The  King  was  the  vaguest  and,  therefore,  the 
best  of  feudal  masters.  He  was  the  most  distant  and, 
seeing  matters  in  far  perspective,  might  care  less  for 
petty,  harassing  interference;  he  had  less  time  for 
insignificant  details,  he  could  often  crush  the  Count, 
and  sometimes  he  could  silence  the  Bishop.  The  ideal 
of  the  mediaeval  burgher  was  to  acknowledge  direct 
allegiance  to  his  King,  but  it  was  an  ideal  which  was 
not  always  realised.  In  his  case  against  the  Count, 
the  burgher  might  ask  aid  of  the  King  and  be  revenged ; 
but  the  Bishop  could  appeal  to  a  court  which  was  still 
loftier  than  that  of  the  sovereign;  he  turned  to  a  ruler 
whose  inheritance  was  spiritual  and  whose  temporal 
power  was  great,  the  Pope. 

In  episcopal  cities,  therefore,  it  was  this  reverend 
suzerain  who  played  the  preponderating  part  in  the 
drama  of  communal  history.  Jealousies  grew  so  rife 
that  Cathedral-towns  generally  and  gradually  divided 
into  two  parts.  The  first  and  the  oldest  section,  the 
"Civitas"  or  cite,  was  often  built  above  the  remains 
of  a  Gallo-Roman  foundation.  There  was  the  Cathe- 
dral, and  there  the  Bishop  lived.  About  him  gathered 
Canons,  priests,  clerical  servitors,  and  the  schools,  of 
which  the  Church  was  then  sole  guardian.  Land  given 
him  was  naturally  chosen  near  the  ecclesiastical  settle- 
ment, and,  even  before  the  IX  century,  this  district 
was  distinct,  apart;  and  the  churchly  inhabitants  did 
not,  as  a  rule,  favour  a  government  by  the  people. 


72  The  Bishop 

The  "  Burgum "  or  "Suburbum,"  on  the  contrary, 
was  the  birthplace  and  home  of  the  communal  idea; 
and  if  the  Bishop  turned  his  face  from  the  independent 
townfolk,  they  also  turned  from  him  and  even  from 
his  Cathedral.  Whenever  it  was  possible  they  built 
a  municipal  church,  even  larger  and  more  important 
than  that  of  the  cite,  and  in  it  they  deposited  their 
archives.  At  Beauvais,  this  municipal  church  was 
Saint  Stephen's ;  and  against  its  outer  wall  was  built  the 
speaker's  tribune,  and  here  the  Mayors  and  the  newly 
elected  magistrates  came  to  take  their  oaths  of  office. 

Clerical  power  was  apparent  everywhere.  At  Le- 
Puv-en-Velay,  the  gates  which  were  lowered  every 
night  closed  the  cite  from  the  burg.  At  Rodez,  the 
burgher's  part  of  the  town  had  its  moat  and  walls  and 
the  prelate's  had  also  its  moat  and  its  mighty  fortifi- 
cations, and  both — and  each — were  Rodez. 

Two  of  the  Kings  who  most  successfully  and  sys- 
tematically curbed  the  temporal  might  of  the  great 
ecclesiastics  were  Louis  VIII  and  his  successor, 
Louis  IX.  Notwithstanding  his  deep  respect  for 
the  Church,  notwithstanding  his  saintly  and  holy 
character,  the  later  Louis  kept  the  civil  power  of  the 
Episcopate  in  submission  to  the  Crown.  After  he  had 
repressed,  in  1233,  the  formidable  sedition  of  Beauvais, 
he  demanded  eight  hundred  pounds  "parisis";  and 
when  the  Bishop  cried  that  the  sum  was  large  and  dared 
to  infer  that  it  was  exorbitant,  the  King  instantly 
deprived  him  of  the  temporalities  of  the  See. 


THE    BISHOPS    CLOISTER.     LAON. 


73 


The  Bishop  75 

This  act  was  significant  and  betokened  the  beginning 
of  the  wane  of  the  political  autocracy  of  Ecclesiasticism. 

The  Cathedral-building  age  was  the  apogee  of  epis- 
copal greatness,  the  days  when  the  mailed  hand  of  the 
Bishop  was  almost  as  potent  as  his  spiritual  threat, 
and  when  his  state  of  living  was  princely.  The  num- 
erous vassals  of  such  great  prelates  as  the  mediaeval 
Bishops  of  Beauvais  form  a  curious  procession.  There 
was  first  the  Chatelain,  who,  as  protector  of  the  tem- 
poral interests  of  the  See,  was  necessarily  a  lord  of 
force  and  prowess,  and  whom  his  Bishop  often  found 
both  essential  and  dangerous.  There  were  also  the 
Seneschal,  the  Chancellor,  the  Lieutenant- Provost, 
Bailiff,  Constable,  and  Marshal,  the  Vassal  of  the  Sword, 
and  the  Vassal  of  the  Banner;  besides  these  brilliant 
figures  there  were  still  other  underlords  who  received 
the  revenues,  and  numerous  freedmen  and  servants  of 
all  occupations. 

The  Bishop,  like  all  feudal  rulers,  levied  taxes  on 
salt,  iron,  steel,  pewter,  wax,  arms,  horses,  and  on  all 
the  bread  which  was  brought  to  Beauvais  or  baked 
there.  Leather-workers  paid  him  for  the  privilege  of 
plying  their  trade,  and  on  each  skin  which  they  sold 
he  received  an  additional  sum.  Until  122Q,  when 
Philip  Augustus  forced  the  acceptance  of  the  royal 
currency,  the  Bishop  had  his  "coiner,"  and  he  had  also 
a  vassal  whose  duty  was  that  of  being  ready,  when 
called  upon,  to  clean  the  episcopal  stables.  There 
was,  too,  the  holder  of  the  Fief  of  the  Lance,  who  took 


76  The  Bishop 

one  from  every  dozen  lances  which  were  sold  in  the 
city;  and  when  the  Bishop  went  in  person  to  do  royal 
service,  this  feudatory  of  the  Lance,  mounted  on  a 
horse  given  by  the  suzerain,  rode  at  his  side  and  bore 
the  badge  of  his  vassalage.  The  holder  of  the  Fief  of 
the  Panetier  served  his  lord  with  bread  at  the  Banquet 
on  his  Entrance-day  and  on  the  great  feasts  of  the 
Episcopal  Court.  He  who  enjoyed  the  Fief  of  Cham- 
bellage  held  the  book  on  which  the  new  Bishop  swore 
the  solemn  oaths  of  fidelity  to  Chapter  and  Commune 
when  he  first  stopped  at  the  Chatel  Gate  of  Beauvais; 
afterwards,  in  the  vesting-room  of  the  Cathedral,  this 
vassal  washed  the  prelate's  feet,  and,  if  it  were  required 
of  him,  slept  in  his  Lord's  room  on  the  night  after  the 
first  Solemn  Entry  into  the  city. 

Another  curious — and  important — fief  was  that  of 
"  Jonglery,"  and  its  possessor  collected  a  fee  from  every 
player,  singer,  showman,  and  "wayward  woman"  who 
came  into  the  public  square.  The  townsmen  who  mar- 
ried and  remained  in  the  city  paid  him  the  price  of 
the  bridegroom's  garb,  or  gave  him  the  actual  clothes; 
and  on  the  wedding  day,  they  were  obliged  to  offer  him 
wine,  a  dish  of  meat,  and  a  loaf  of  bread.  Every  bride 
who  walked  across  the  Bridge  of  Saint  Hippolyte  knew 
that  she  must  give  him  four  farthings,  and  that  if  she 
did  not  give  them,  she  would  be  held  prisoner  until  her 
debt  was  paid.  After  some  years,  the  taxes  levied 
upon  the  bridal  couples  grew  so  onerous  that  the  natives 
of  Beauvais  appealed  for  redress  to  their  suzerain,  the 


The  Bishop 


11 


Archbishop  of  Reims ;  but  the  strolling  actor  continued 
to  pay.  Besides  these  wanderers,  the  Bishop  had 
a  body  of  players  or  "jugglers"  who  belonged  to  his 
household  and  travelled  with  him;  and  on  Christmas 
Day,  Easter,  and  Pentecost,  from  the  hour  of  Prime 


THE    HOME        OF    THE    BISHOP    OF    BEAUVAIS. 

until  the  beginning  of  the  Gospel  of  High  Mass,  certain 
of  them  sang  in  the  Cloister  of  the  Cathedral. 

The  renown  of  the  great  prelates  of  the  North  was 
not  merely  local.  The  College  of  Peers  of  France, 
an  institution  of  ancient  origin  which  adjudicated  the 
disputes  and  judged  the  crimes  of  royalty  and  of  the 
highest  nobles,  and  considered  such  cases  as  the  strug- 


78  The  Bishop 

gle  of  1 216  for  the  heritage  of  Champagne,  or  the  mur- 
der of  young  Arthur  of  Brittany  by  John  Lackland,  was 
composed,  not  only  of  the  magnificent  Dukes  of  Nor- 
mandy, Burgundy,  and  Aquitaine,  and  the  Counts  of 
Flanders,  Champagne,  and  Toulouse,  but  also  of  an 
equal  number  of  ecclesiastics,  the  Archbishop  of  Reims 
and  Monsignori  of  Langres,  Beauvais,  Laon,  Noyon, 
and  Chalons. 

At  the  close  of  the  XII  century,  the  Bishops  of  the 
Isle-de-France  who  were  peers  of  France  received  from 
the  King  the  privileges  which  other  prelates  and  many 
lay  nobles  did  not  possess,  they  held  their  county  in  direct 
fief  from  the  Crown ;  their  tenure  of  land  was  confirmed 
by  royal  charter ;  and  their  attachment  to  the  sovereign 
was  a  close,  double  tie, — that  of  profound  practical 
interest  as  well  as  of  theoretical  loyalty.  In  the  cere- 
monial of  the  Coronation  at  Reims,  it  was  the  Bishop 
of  Beauvais  who  held  the  royal  mantle,  and  called  out 
to  the  people  to  ask  them  if  they  would  accept  the  King 
who  was  about  to  be  anointed  with  the  Holy  Oil. 

The  homes  of  these  lordly  priests,  Palaces,  country 
houses,  and  castles,  were  magnificently  fortified  and 
as  magnificently  furnished,  adorned  with  tapestries 
and  finely  wrought  brasses,  and  kept  in  all  the  outward 
state  of  ecclesiastical  rank.  Yet  neither  this  pomp  nor 
their  actual  power  satisfied  the  cravings  of  the  prelates. 
They  felt  the  desire,  common  to  all  ambitious  minds, 
of  finding  an  imperishable  expression  to  perpetuate 
the  memory  of  their  existence. 


Symbolism  79 

This  was  undoubtedly  one  of  the  motives  which 
added  impetus  to  the  great  Gothic  movement,  and  it 
has  been  called  unworthy.  That  it  was  not,  in  itself, 
highly  spiritual  might  be  generally  conceded;  and  it 
must  be  admitted  that  fear  of  an  outraged  Deity,  a 
crude  desire  to  placate  Him,  and  to  redeem  spiritual 
sin  by  material  gifts,  led  both  priest  and  layman  to 
contribute  to  the  building  of  the  great  churches  of  the 
Middle  Ages.  Yet  when  the  Bishop  felt  that  his  na- 
tural, human  ambition  united  him  to  high,  religious 
aspirations,  when  the  layman  turned  hopefully  to 
God  in  the  midst  of  the  dimness  of  his  comprehension, 
the  spirit  was  not  altogether  unworthy.  Hope,  aspira- 
tions, prayers,  and  innumerable  strivings  to  produce 
an  enduring  symbol  of  their  faith,  as  well  as  lower 
motives,  animated  the  Cathedral-builders. 

"Ye  shall  know  them  by  their  fruits,"  said  the  Lord, 
He  who  is  believed  to  dwell  in  Very  Presence  within 
its  walls ;  and  of  all  the  works  of  the  Middle  Ages,  none 
show  such  lofty  and  sublime  symbolism  as  is  embodied 
in  the  Abbey  and  the  "  Bishop's  Church." 

In  his  great  sermon  on  the  Day  of  Pente- 
cost, Saint  Peter  based  his  argument  for 
the  validity  of  Christianity  upon  three 
forms  of  evidence, — first,  prophecy;  then, 

miracle;  and,  last  of  all,  upon  the  innate  power  of  the 

new  religious  force. 

Whether  the  sermon  represented  only  one  phase  of 


80  Symbolism 

the  theology  of  the  Prince  of  Apostles  or  his  whole 
spiritual  thesis  is  a  subject  for  the  priest  rather  than 
the  layman;  but  it  must  be  evident  to  the  thoughtful 
reader  of  Church  history  that  this  inaugural  exposi- 
tion formed  the  basis  of  the  popular,  doctrinal  Chris- 
tianity of  the  Middle  Ages.  To  the  mediaeval  Christian 
the  persuasion  of  the  ideals  of  the  Faith,  its  moral 
grandeur,  and  all  those  hundred  spiritual  gifts  which 
form,  to  the  modern  mind,  the  supreme  tests  of  Chris- 
tianity, were  overshadowed  by  the  more  tangible  proofs 
of  miracle  and  the  infinite  possibilities  of  the  interpre- 
tation of  prophecy. 

As  the  new  Faith  became  widespread,  the  system  of 
exegesis  adopted  by  the  priests  was  based  less  and  less 
on  arguments  of  authenticity  or  credibility,  either  spirit- 
ual or  material,  and  relied  more  and  more  upon  a  scheme 
of  analogy  and  of  ingenious  interpretations  which  seem 
to  have  been  founded  upon  utility  without,  however, 
a  trace  of  ecclesiastical  fraud. 

This  method  became  so  popular  that  it  was  developed 
not  only  in  the  writings  of  the  Roman  Fathers  but  by 
all  priestly  writers;  and,  early  in  the  V  century, 
Eucherius,  Bishop  of  Lyons,  enlightened  France  by  a 
marvellous  treatise,  called  the  "  Book  of  the  Formulas 
of  Spiritual  Knowledge." 

Perhaps  no  mental  concepts  can  be  more  essentially 
different  than  the  scholastic  and  the  modern  idea  of 
"knowledge."  Many  a  devout  and  intellectual  man 
of  to-dav  would  then  have  been  considered  a  monster 


Symbolism  81 

of  heresy  and  unbelief;  and  a  "mirror  of  science" 
during  the  Middle  Ages  was  often  he  who  could  deduce 
the  most  preposterous  and  highly  imaginative  meaning 
from  the  plainest  statement,  who  could  most  subtly 
and  eloquently  obscure  a  single  fact  in  a  labyrinth  of 
metaphysical  constructions,  and  who  found  an  hundred 
explanations  while  often  ignoring  the  literal  significance 
of  his  text. 

It  has  been  claimed  that  the  early  Fathers  of  the 
Church  were  not  guilty  of  these  intellectual  errors, 
that  scholastic  sophisms  were  the  product  of  a  de- 
generate Medievalism,  and  that  Origen,  Augustine,  and 
their  contemporaries  possessed  the  Scriptures  in  perfect 
understanding.  But  history  does  not  corroborate  this 
claim.  In  the  V  century,  the  Bishop  of  Lyons  inter- 
preted "Awake,  0  North  Wind,  and  come  thou  South," 
the  amorous  phrase  of  the  Song  of  Solomon  which  has 
been  well  described  as  "ardently  erotic  and  highly 
poetic,"  as  the  invocation:  "  Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan, 
and  draw  near  to  me,  O  divine  Spirit ! " 

Gregory  the  Great,  who  was  Pope  between  590  and 
604,  declared  that  the  East  gate  of  the  Temple,  which 
Ezekiel  saw  in  a  vision  and  described  in  the  fortieth 
chapter  of  the  Book  of  Prophecy,  designates  Jesus 
Christ.  "Who  else  can  be  meant  by  this  gate,"  cries 
the  learned  Pontiff, "but  Our  Lord  and  Redeemer  Who 
is  to  us  the  Gate  of  Heaven,  as  it  is  written  He  it  is  of 
Whom  Zachariah  said :  '  Behold  the  Man  Whose  Name 
is  in  the  East.'  " 


Symbolism 


But  neither  the  Pope  nor  the  Bishop  of  Lyons  was 
the  originator  of  this  method  of  exegesis.  Although 
their  period  is  early,  they  were  but  the  inheritors  of 
well-developed   theological  forms.     In  his  interesting 

book  on  Animal 
Symbolism,  Evans 
tells  that  a  famous 
Doctor  of  the  IV 
century,  Saint 
Basil,  "  expressly 
declares  it  to  be  a 
matter  of  less  mo- 
ment to  ascertain 
whether  such  crea- 
tures  as  griffins 
and  unicorns 
really  exist,  than 
to  discover  what 
religious  tenets 
t  h  e  y  inculcate ; 
Saint  Augustine 
affirms  that  it  is 
not  for  us  to  find 
out  whether  these  marvellous  stories  are  true  or 
false,  but  rather  to  give  heed  to  their  spiritual  sig- 
nificance; and  before  250,  Origen  had  actually  charac- 
terised the  idyl  of  Rebecca  '  not  as  a  relation  of  actual 
occurrences,  but  as  a  concoction  of  mysteries.' ' 

After  the  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire  and  the  coming 


AN    ILLUSTRATION    OF  ANIMAL     SYMBOL- 
ISM. " PARIS. 


Symbolism  83 

of  the  Dark  Ages,  all  learning,  secular  as  well  as  sacred, 
was  in  the  safe-keeping  of  the  Church;  and,  in  this 
atmosphere  of  uncritical,  unquestioning  piety,  many 
branches  of  science  acquired  a  strange — and  forced- 
theological  usefulness  and  a  weird  addition  of  legendary 
11  discoveries."  Zoology,  in  the  huge  text -book  of  early 
Christian  writers,  the  "Physiologus,"  gives  typical 
examples  of  this  "  scientific  "  lore ;  and  its  "history" 
of  the  lion,  which  deserves  re-printing,  is  not  an  unfair 
example  of  its  contents. 

When  this  beast,  writes  the  mediaeval  author,  "per- 
ceives that  the  hunters  are  after  him,  he  erases  his 
footprints  with  his  tail  so  that  he  cannot  be  traced  to 
his  lair.  In  like  manner  Our  Saviour,  the  Lion  of  the 
Tribe  of  Judah,  concealed  all  traces  of  His  Godhead 
when  He  descended  to  the  earth.  .  .  .  Secondly,  the 
lion  always  sleeps  with  his  eyes  open ;  so  Our  Lord  slept 
with  His  body  on  the  Cross,  but  awoke  at  the  right 
hand  of  the  Father.  Thirdly,  the  lioness  brings  forth 
her  whelps  dead,  and  watches  over  them  until,  after 
three  days,  the  lion  comes  and  howls  over  them  and 
vivifies  them  by  his  breath;  so  the  Almighty  Father 
recalled  to  life  His  only  begotten  Son.  .  .  .  Who  on  the 
third  day  was  thus  raised  from  the  dead  and  will  like- 
wise raise  us  all  up  to  eternal  life." 

To  modern  ears,  these  words  are  grotesque;  but  to 
the  monk  of  the  earlier  ages  they  were  full  of  holy  sug- 
gestiveness.  Shut  within  his  Western  Monastery,  he 
saw  no  lions;  and  if  some  traveller  returning  from  the 


84  Symbolism 

far  African  land,  brought  tales  which  contradicted 
the  stories  of  the  Physiologus,  the  Brother  could  turn 
a  deaf  ear  or  rely  upon  the  established  and  accepted 
reputation  of  his  book,  greater  than  that  of  the  pilgrim ; 
and,  if  he  listened  and  found  himself  almost  persuaded 
of  the  reasonableness  of  a  more  normal  beast  than  the 
still-born  whelp,  he  could  take  refuge  in  the  words  of 
the  eminent  Doctor  wiser  far  than  both  Physiologus 
and  traveller,  and,  realising  that ' '  it  was  not  for  him  to 
discover  whether  the  marvellous  stories  were  true  or 
false,"  he  could  safely  "  give  heed  only  to  their  spiritual 
significance."  As  has  been  well  said,  the  "engrossing 
matter  was  to  reach  heaven,"  the  aim  was  to  escape 
hell;  and  in  this  atmosphere  of  fear  and  anticipation 
of  the  beyond,  the  truths  of  this  world  became  sadly 
confused.  Dissection  of  the  human  body  was  forbid- 
den, because  of  the  necessity  of  a  future  and  perfect 
resurrection;  anaesthetics  were  anathema,  temptations 
which  the  devil  offered  to  suffering  mortals  to  induce 
them  to  flee  a  purgatorial,  purifying  pain  of  expiation; 
and  "science"  was  a  mass  of  puerilities  which  served 
merely  to  illustrate  dogma. 

Consider,  for  example,  the  logical  influence  that  the 
mediaeval  Christian  received  from  the  history  of  the 
symbol  of  the  Cross.  As  a  sign  of  "human  redemp- 
tion, and  because  the  whole  creation  since  the  Fall 
was  supposed  to  have  been  groaning  and  travailing 
together  in  longing  for  the  Advent  of  the  Messiah  and 
the  consummation  of  the  Atonement,  the  Fathers  of  the 


Symbolism  85 

Church  and  the  later  Defenders  of  the  Faith  .  .  .  im- 
agined they  discovered  cruciform  and  cruciferous 
phenomena  everywhere  in  animate  and  inanimate 
nature,  and  laid  great  stress  upon  this  fancy  as  an 
incontestable  proof  of  the  divine  origin  of  Christianity. 
Furthermore,  as  the  Jewish  people  were  the  special 
channel  through  which  this  salvation  was  to  be  received, 
the  literary  and  historical  records  of  the  Jews  were 
assumed  to  be  full  of  allusions  to  the  Cross,  and  their 
religious  rites  were  interpreted  as  having  no  purpose  or 
validity  except  as  prophecies  and  prefigurations  of  it." 
As  the  fruit  of  a  wooden  object,  a  tree,  caused  man's 
downfall,  it  was  preordained  that  the  sign  of  his  resto- 
ration should  be  made  of  wood.  "We  are  told,"  con- 
tinues Evans  in  his  masterly  compendium  of  this 
complicated  theological  idea,  "that  man  was  created  in 
the  form  of  a  Cross,  a  curious  and  characteristic  example 
of  what  logicians  call  hysteron-proteron,  or  what  in 
common  parlance  is  said  to  be  putting  the  cart  before 
the  horse ;  since  the  Cross  took  its  shape  because,  as  an 
instrument  of  human  punishment  and  torture,  it  was 
made  to  fit  the  man.  .  .  .  Some  typologists  are 
sufficiently  strenuous  to  maintain  that  the  Cross  was 
originally  a  tree  in  the  Garden  of  Eden  where  it  grew 
in  the  form  of  the  Hebrew  letter  Tau — T — ,  that  Adam 
and  Eve  hid  themselves  behind  it  after  they  had  sinned 
and  when  they  heard  the  Voice  of  God,  and  that  the 
blood  of  the  murdered  Abel  cried  out  from  under  it, 
thus  prefiguring  the  expiatory  blood  of  Christ.   It  was 


86  Symbolism 

a  branch  of  this  tree  that  Moses  cast  into  the  waters 
of  Marah  to  make  them  sweet,  and  the  great  lawgiver's 
wonder-working  wand  was  a  piece  of  the  same  wood. 
The  world  itself  is  constructed  in  the  shape  of  a  Cross, 
whose  four  points  correspond  to  the  four  cardinal 
points  or  intersections  of  the  horizon. 

"Again,  as  a  primitive  physico-psychology  resolved 
man  into  seven  elements,  four  of  the  body  and  three 
of  the  soul,  so  the  Cross  is  composed  of  four  notches 
and  three  pieces  of  wood.  Three  multiplied  by  four 
makes  twelve,  and  this  sum  corresponds  to  the  sum 
of  the  Commandments  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments. 
Four  and  three  form  respectively  the  basis  of  the  quad- 
rivium  and  the  trivium  which  together  constitute  the 
seven  Liberal  Arts,  and  comprise  the  whole  cycle  of 
human  knowledge." 

But  it  should  again  be  remembered  that  it  was  not 
the  lonely,  fanciful  monk  of  the  Dark  Ages  who  first 
imagined  these  biblical  parallelisms,  they  were  pre- 
viously the  creations  of  strong  minds,  of  great  Apolo- 
gists who  lived  two  centuries  or  less  after  the  death  of 
Christ,  such  as  Tertullian,  Origen,  and  Justin  Martyr. 
The  trend  was  inevitable.  Forced  interpretations, 
spurious  reasoning,  and  erroneous  analogies,  first  ap- 
plied to  the  Bible  itself,  logically  became  the  tests  of 
less  canonical  writings  and  led  to  the  literal  accept- 
ance of  a  mass  of  figurative  orientalisms,  parables, 
beautiful  legends,  and  foolish  or  childish  superstitions. 

As  the  material  Cross  was  so  important  a  symbol 


Symbolism  87 

that  it  was  everywhere  prefigured  in  nature  and  in 
Scripture,  this  prophetic  insistence  was  considered,  in 
itself,  the  divine  sanction  of  a  natural,  human  desire  to 


A    MODERN    "CROSS"    OF    THE    NORTH    AISLE    OF    CHARTRES. 

preserve  its  actual  pieces ;  and  if  the  Cross  was  an  object 
for  universal  remembrance,  the  relics  of  the  Saints 
were  to  be  held  worthy  only  of  lesser  respect.  The 
evolution  continued  from  the  reverent  emotions  evoked 
by  sight  of  a  piece  of  the  Cross  of  Christ  to  those  caused 


88  Symbolism 

by  the  tomb  of  the  martyr,  and  from  the  respect  felt 
for  the  grave,  to  the  actual  preservation  of  the  body 
or  even  of  a  wisp  of  hair,  a  finger,  or  a  tooth,  until  in 
the  later  ages,  before  a  head  of  Saint  John  the  Baptist, 
the  Abbe  Marolles  could  only  exclaim,  enigmatically, 
"Glory  be  to  God,  this  is  the  sixth  head  of  the  Re- 
deemer's forerunner  I  have  had  the  good  fortune  to 
adore." 

These  outward  and  visible  manifestations  of  theolo- 
gical trend  were  but  the  signs  of  the  inward  drift  of  the 
Church.  Theology  became  the  province  of  the  ingen- 
ious rather  than  of  the  powerful  intelligences ;  subtlety 
was  more  highly  prized  than  reason;  the  tendency 
towards  the  decadence  of  virile  religious  dialectics  was 
foreordained,  and  the  famous  discussions  as  to  the 
number  of  angels  who  could  stand  actually  on  the 
point  of  a  sword  became  possible. 

To  believe  that  the  Church  desired  to  keep  the  truths 
from  the  people  is  a  grave  mistake.  In  denying  to 
them  unguided  access  to  the  Bible  and  the  Fathers, 
she  aimed  to  shield  them  from  errors,  as  one  would 
protect  an  unlearned  mind  from  too  hasty  conclusions 
or  an  immature  intelligence  from  the  dangers  of  too 
abstruse  and  illy  digested  reading.  That  which  she 
considered  the  great  and  fundamental  truths  of  salva- 
tion she  strove  to  impart,  often  with  vital,  passionate 
effort. 

The  problem  of  mediaeval  Catholicism  was  not  the 
secreting  of  holy  knowledge  from  the  profanation  of  the 


Symbolism 


89 


vulgar,  but  the  conveying,  the  spreading  of  its  treasure 
to   the    faithful,    unlettered    Christian.     To   this   end, 


"christian     instruction     was    found  ...  in     the     ever-present, 
insistent  .  .   .   sculptured  story.  " amiens. 


Orders   of    missionaries    and    preachers  were    formed. 
Travelling    from    town    to    town    was    tedious    and 


90  Symbolism 

dangerous,  and  the  instruction  of  even  a  few  vil- 
lages involved  great  effort  and  many  months  of  work. 
Hand-made  parchment  books  were,  by  the  exigencies 
of  physical  limitations,  rare;  and  they  were  of  little 
educational  value  to  peoples  who  could  not  read. 

The  solution  of  this  serious  problem  of  Christian 
instruction  was  found  not  only  in  the  recurring  sermon, 
the  Confessional,  and  the  exhortation,  which  were  often 
forgotten,  but  in  the  ever-present,  insistent,  often 
eloquently  sculptured  story  of  the  church-building. 
At  Bourges,  in  the  stained-glass  windows,  the  worship- 
per of  the  XIII  century  saw,  besides  man}7  a  plain 
tale,  the  figurative  picture  of  the  pelican,  and  the  lion 
and  the  whelps  which  were  so  significant  of  his  Lord's 
Resurrection;  at  Amiens  he  saw,  just  at  the  level  of 
his  eyes,  as  he  entered  the  great  door,  the  Virtues 
towards  which  he  must  struggle,  and  the  Vices  he  must 
flee ;  and  at  Chartres,  the  sculptors  seem  to  have  deter- 
mined to  illustrate  all  the  tremendous  mass  of  doctrine, 
history,  and  piety  in  the  "  Universal  Mirror  "  of  Vincent 
of  Beauvais. 

This  important  educational  service  which  sculp- 
ture rendered  to  mediaeval  Christianity  was  continually 
in  the  minds  of  its  priests.  "What  Holy  Writ  in- 
culcates into  the  learned,  pictures  impress  upon  the 
ignorant,"  exclaimed  Hugh  of  Saint-Victor,  "for  as 
the  scholar  delights  in  the  subtlety  of  Scripture,  so  the 
soul  of  the  simple  is  pleased  with  the  simplicity  of 
pictures."     Durandus,  a  Bishop  of  Mende,  writing  in 


THE       SCULPTORS      SEEM     TO     HAVE     DETERMINED     TO     ILLUSTRATE     THE 
TREMENDOUS    MASS    OF    DOCTRINE,    HISTORY,     AND    PIETY    IN    THE 
'UNIVERSAL  MIRROR'  OF  VINCENT  OF  BEAUVAIS.  " CHARTRES. 


91 


Symbolism  93 

1286,  develops  the  same  theme  even  more  philosophic- 
ally. "Pictures  and  ornaments  in  churches,"  begins 
this  thoughtful  prelate,  "are  the  Scriptures  and  lessons 
of  the  laity.  Whence  Gregory,  'it  is  one  thing  to  adore 
a  picture  and  another,  by  means  of  a  picture,  to  learn 
what  should  be  adored. '  For  what  writing  supplieth 
to  him  who  can  read  that  doth  a  picture  supply  to  him 
who  is  unlearned  and  can  only  look.  Because  they  who 
are  uninstructed  thus  see  what  they  ought  to  follow; 
and  things  are  read  though  letters  be  unknown." 

As  to  the  value  of  this  pictorial  architecture,  there 
are  very  diverse  opinions.  It  is  by  some  believed  to 
be  a  deliberate  infraction  of  that  commandment,  so 
dear  to  the  Protestant,  the  Jew,  and  the  Mahometan, 
"Thou  shalt  not  make  unto  thyself  any  graven  image, 
nor  the  likeness  of  anything  which  is  in  heaven  above 
nor  the  earth  beneath  nor  the  waters  under  the  earth." 
In  still  further  denunciation,  Thomas  Tuman,  in  his 
"Ancient  Pagan  and  Modern  Christian  Sculpture," 
boldly  offers  the  startling  thesis  that,  "  It  has  been  re- 
served for  Christian  art  to  crowd  our  churches  with 
emblems  of  Bel  and  Astarte,  Baalim  and  Ashtoreth, 
lingaand  yoni." 

It  is  not  possible  to  deny  that  many  of  the  greatest 
Cathedrals  and  Abbeys  are  profaned  by  various  bald 
representations  of  indecencies.  To  the  modern  mind, 
the  presence  of  these  subjects  seems,  to  say  the  least, 
anomalous.  One  reads  of  the  careful  ceremonials 
which  a  holy  Bishop  of  the  XIII   century  devised   to 


g4  Symbolism 

remove  the  stain  of  a  "defilement"  from  the  conse- 
crated edifice.  To  accomplish  this,  "  the  church  ought, " 
according  to  the  Constitution  of  Gregory,  "  to  be  washed 
with  .  .  .  water,  the  which  washing  some  do  affirm 
may  be  done  by  a  mere  priest.  .  .  .  Yet  some  skilful 
men  of  the  highest  authority  have  written  that  it  is 
safer  for  this  also  to  be  done  by  none  but  a  Bishop.  .  .  . 
A  church  must  also  be  reconciled  in  which  an  infidel 
or  one  publicly  excommunicated  be  buried ;  and  in  that 
case  the  walls  are  to  be  scraped."  These  ceremonials 
were  carefully  planned  with  the  utmost  sincerity;  and 
it  would  not  be  unnatural  to  infer  that  if  a  church 
must  be  purified  of  an  intangible  and,  as  it  were, 
spiritual  atmosphere  of  heresy,  it  should  be  purged  as 
swiftly  and  as  thoroughly  of  the  more  obvious,  salient 
vulgarities.  But  this  idea  was  by  no  means  apparent 
to  the  XIII  century  Christian,  who,  as  has  been 
well  said,  was  neither  "thin-skinned  nor  dainty 
minded,"  and  in  the  Middle  Ages  heresy  was  considered 
so  much  more  profoundly  wicked  than  immorality 
that  it  was  less  conceivable  for  the  honest  heretic  than 
for  such  an  immoral  member  of  the  Faithful  as  Isabella 
of  Bavaria  to  enter  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven.  Both 
from  a  coarse  fibre  of  mind  and  because  the  doctrinal 
was  of  more  importance  than  the  ethical,  it  was  emi- 
nently logical  that  the  atmosphere  of  disbelief  should 
receive  canonical  disinfection  and  that,  sometimes, 
doubtless  as  object-lessons,  such  profoundly  disgusting 
vulgarities  as  those  described  in   Doctor  Witkowski's 


THE        SCRIPTURES    ...    OF       THE       LAITY    .    .     .    THEY    .    .    .    THUS       SEE 
WHAT     THEY     OUGHT     TO     FOLLOW,     AND     THINGS     ARE      SEEN 
THOUGH    LETTERS     BE    UNKNOWN.'    " PARIS. 


95 


Symbolism 


97 


book,    "Profane   Art  in  Churches,"  were    allowed   to 
remain. 

Another  factor  which  was  not  without  degenerating 
influence  upon  Christianity  was  the  adoption — or 
infiltration — of    various    heathenisms.     The    greatest 


'  RIDICULOUS    MONSTROSITIES.     PARIS. 


orthodox  feasts  curiously  coincide  with  pleasant  pagan 
celebrations;  in  the  churches  the  Roman  Sibyls  often 
stand  side  by  side  with  Prophets  and  with  Saints;  at 
Aix-la-Chapelle,  myths  of  Demeter  and  Isis  and  Horus, 
"in  their  assumed  prefigurative  relation  to  the  Virgin 


98 


Symbolism 


Mary,"  are  more  or  less  graphically  depicted;  and 
there  were — and  still  exist — many  other  signs  which 
suggest  the  persistence  of  vicious  pagan  tokens  and 
even  of  the  habits  which  they  symbolised. 

Holy  and  spiritual  souls  must  have  turned  in 
pain  and  disgust  from  the  vulgarity  of  the  lower  forms 
of  classic  reminiscence.     "What  business  have  those 

ridiculous  monstrosities, ' ' 
wrote  the  fiery  Saint 
Bernard  in  i  i  2  5  ,  to 
William,  Abbot  of  Saint - 
Thierry,  "those  creatures 
I  of  wonderfully  deformed 
beauty  and  beautiful  de- 
formity, before  the  eyes 
of  studious  friars  in  the 
courts  of  Cloisters? 
What  mean  those  filthy 
apes,  those  fierce  lions, 
those  monstrous  cen- 
taurs, those  half-men,  those  spotted  tigers,  those  fighting 
soldiers,  and  horn-blowing  hunters  ?  Thou  seest  many 
bodies  under  one  head,  and  again  many  heads  on  one 
body.  Here  is  a  serpent's  tail  attached  to  a  quad- 
ruped, there  is  a  quadruped's  head  on  a  fish.  There  a 
beast  presents  the  fore  parts  of  a  horse  and  drags  after 
it  the  rear  of  a  goat;  here  an  horned  animal  has  the 
hind  parts  of  a  horse.  In  short,  there  is  seen  every- 
where such  a  marvellous  diversity  of  forms  that  one 


A    HALF-MAN. 


Symbolism  99 

reads  with  more  pleasure  what  is  carved  in  stones 
than  what  is  written  in  books,  and  would  rather  gaze 
all  day  upon  these  creations  than  to  meditate  on  the 
divine  word  of  God ! ' ' 

It  should  be  realised,  however,  that  those  objec- 
tionable and  subtile  symbols,  recognised  only  by  the 
initiated  student  or  the  depraved,  and  those  franker, 
coarser  pictures  hidden  by  the  conscious  artist  in  some 
obscure  nook,  do  not  form  any  appreciable  proportion  of 
ecclesiastical  sculpture ;  they  are  not  an  hundredth,  not 
even  a  thousandth  part  of  the  subject-matter  of  church- 
ly  carving;  and  the  fair-minded  traveller,  however  un- 
friendly, or  even  hostile,  to  the  Church,  must  admit 
that  her  buildings  are  covered  with  holy  lessons,  and 
that  if  these  lessons  are  sometimes  naively  or  even 
foolishly  expressed,  they  are  far  more  often  carefullv, 
thoughtfully,  and  beautifully  illustrated. 

For  Christian  symbolism  is  an  art  of  many  phases, 
which,  being  virtually  dead,  has  become  more  or  less 
occult.  A  lizard,  carved  in  one  of  the  nooks  or 
crannies  of  the  Cathedral,  seems  to  the  modern  mind 
merely  a  curiosity,  an  enigma,  or  an  ornament;  but 
mediaeval  lore  relates  that  this  animal,  blinded  by  age, 
creeps  to  the  crevice  of  a  wall  which  looks  towards  the 
East,  and,  stretching  its  old  head  towards  the  rising 
sun,  again  receives  its  sight;  and  the  mediaeval  wor- 
shipper, seeing  the  carved  lizard  on  the  wall  of  his 
church,  knew  that  it  symbolised  the  awakening  and 
glorifying  influence  of  the  Gospel. 


IOO 


Symbolism 


Sometimes,  as  in  the  carving  of  the  clown  teaching  a 
monkey  to  read,  which  ornaments  a  height  of  the  tower 
at  Bourges,  the  meaning  may  be  two-  or  even  threefold. 
Sometimes,  as  at  No  yon,  the  lesson  is  obvious,  and 
every  one  who  enters  the  South  transept  portal  sees 
on  one  side  a  soul  in  the  clutches  of  demons  and,  on  the 

other,  the  anxious,  watch- 
ing friar,  and  can  easily 
point  the  moral  of  the 
sculptured  tale. 

The  earliest  sculptures 
of  Western  Christianity, 
those  of  the  catacombs, 
are  symbolical  rather 
than  pictorial.  There  is 
the  Fish  holding  the 
basket  of  Eucharistic 
Bread;  the  Lamb  of  God 
with  a  pastoral  staff  and 
the  pail  for  divine  nur- 
ture; the  Ship  and  the 
Lighthouse,  which  is  the  Church  guided  by  the  precepts 
of  the  Cross;  and  birds,  the  souls  of  the  righteous, 
feeding  upon  the  grapes  of  the  "True  Vine." 

The  number  of  general  symbols  gradually  increased. 
Many  colours  and  animals  and  plants  acquired  a  figura- 
tive significance, — the  dragon  represented  the  spirit  of 
Evil ;  the  lily  denoted  purity ;  the  olive,  peace ;  the  palm, 
martyrdom ;  and  the  scallop-shell  betokened  pilgrimage. 


THE  CARVING  OF  THE   CLOWN  TEACH- 
ING  A  MONKEY  TO    READ.  " 
BOURGES. 


Symbolism 


IOI 


Finally  the  church  building  itself  became  a  compen- 
dium of  symbolism  and  every  part  had  its  meaning.  In 
his  "Mystical  Mirror"  of  the  XII  century,  Hugh  of 
Saint- Victor  wrote,  "The  material  edifice  in  which  the 
people  come  together  .   .   .  signifies  the  Holy  Catho- 


THE    MATERIAL    EDIFICE    IN     WHICH    THE     PEOPLE    COME    TOGETHER 
SIGNIFIES  THE  HOLY  CATHOLIC  CHURCH  WHICH    IS  BUILDED  IN 
THE    HEAVENS,   OF    LIVING    STONES." AUXERRE. 


lie  Church  which  is  builded  in  the  heavens  of  living 
stones.  .  .  .  The  towers  be  the  prelates  .  .  .  who  are 
her  wards  and  defence.  .  .  .  The  cock  which  is 
placed  thereon  is  the  company  of  preachers  which 
...  do  stir  up  the  sleepers  to  cast  away  the  works 
of  darkness,  crying,  '  Woe  to  the  sleepers.  Awake  thou 
that  sleepest!'  .   .   .  The   door  is    Christ,  whence    the 

LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
^RIVERSIDE 


102  Symbolism 

Lord  said  in  the  Gospel,  'I  am  the  door.'  The  pillars 
be  Doctors,  who  do  hold  up  spiritually  the  Temple  of 
God  by  their  doctrine,  as  do  the  Evangelists  the  Throne 
of  God."  The  inclination  of  the  axis  of  the  choir,  so 
noticeable  in  many  Gothic  churches,  recalled  the  bowed 
Head  of  Christ  on  the  Cross;  the  plan  of  the  building 
itself  was  that  of  the  Cross,  the  Altar  was  the  Head  of 
Jesus,  and  the  apsidal  chapels  formed  His  Encircling 
Crown. 

To  this  scholastic  and  oftentimes  beautiful  and  poetic 
ingenuity  there  was  no  end.  Bishop  Durandus  tells 
us  that  crypts  denote  the  hermits,  those  holy  men  de- 
voted to  the  solitary  life  of  caves  and  desert-places; 
the  apse  is  "the  lay  portion  of  the  Faithful  joined  to 
Christ";  the  pavement  signifies  the  foundation  of  belief, 
the  pulpit  the  life  of  the  perfect,  and  the  four  side- walls 
represent  the  four  cardinal  virtues,  Justice,  Temperance, 
Prudence,  and  Fortitude.  Even  the  cement,  humble 
and  yet  most  necessary  part  of  the  church,  was  not 
forgotten, — its  lime  was  "fervent  charity"  and  its 
water  was  "the  Spirit."  Besides  the  specific  stories  of 
their  glass,  windows,  generally  speaking,  represented 
the  "Holy  Scriptures,  which  expel  wind  and  rain,  that 
is,  all  things  hurtful;  but  transmit  the  light  of  the  True 
Sun,  that  is,  God,  unto  the  hearts  of  the  Faithful." 

Not  content  with  this  instruction  by  means  of  sug- 
gestion and  analogy,  the  prelates  permitted,  in  the 
Cathedral  and  parish  churches,  plays  which  were  often 
highly  symbolic  in  character.     "The  Church,"  writes 


THE    PILLARS    BE    DOCTORS,    WHO    DO    HOLD    UP    SPIRITUALLY    THE    TEMPLE 
OF    GOD." BEAUVAIS. 


I03 


Symbolism  105 

Evans,  "aimed  to  .  .  .  direct  the  pleasures  as  well 
as  to  dictate  the  penances  of  the  masses" ;  and  the 
Bishops,  as  Viollet-le-Duc  observes,  "preferred  to 
open  their  Cathedrals  to  the  crowd  and  to  permit  .  .  . 
jollities  within  consecrated  walls,  rather  than  run  the 
risk  of  dangerous  fermentations  of  popular  ideas  out- 
side. .  .  .  Whatever  concerned  the  moral  or  material 
interests  of  the  community,  whether  it  was  to  rebuke 
vicious  habits,  or  to  exterminate  locusts,  weevils,  and 
other  destructive  vermin  by  exorcism,  was  the  affair 
of  the  Church." 

It  was  in  the  spirit  of  watchful  guidance  and  instruc- 
tion that  many  a  "Feast,"  strange  to  modern  taste, 
was  piously  inaugurated,  "in  good  faith  and  without 
any  intentional  irreverence." 

It  has  been  said  that  the  Roman  theatre  "died  late 
and  died  hard"  before  the  bitter  opposition  of  the 
early  Christians.  But  acting  had  scarcely  disappeared 
from  a  heathen  stage  when,  in  a  strangely  different 
form  and  with  a  widely  different  aim,  it  reappeared 
within  the  walls  of  the  church  itself. 

Civilisation  overturned,  manv  books  and  much 
knowledge  lost,  ignorance  advancing  with  every  onward 
step  of  the  triumphant  pagan  hordes,  the  want  of  a 
thorough  command  of  any  common  language  in  which 
to  instruct  these  conquerors  in  the  mysteries  of  the 
Gospel,  were  problems  which  seemed  to  demand  from 
the  Church  some  new  variety  of  teaching  which  would 
meet  the  overpowering  needs  of  the  hour.     At  first, 


106  Symbolism 

processions  within  and  without  the  sacred  building 
were  multiplied;  many  new  hymns  were  composed, 
and  it  is  said  that  the  music  of  the  chant,  in  which 
the  pious  story  was  told,  was  oftentimes  more 
descriptive  of  a  picturesque  incident  than  solemnly 
liturgical. 

However  this  may  be,  the  aim  was  to  teach  great 
truths;  and,  in  this  increasing  effort  of  the  priest- 
hood, persons  were  permitted  to  appear  in  the  charac- 
ter and  the  supposed  costumes  of  those  whose  story 
they  enacted.  Angels,  Martyrs,  Apostles,  and  Prophets 
declared  the  Gospel  story,  and  crowded  audiences, 
whether  moved  to  tears  or,  like  some  Gothic  heroes, 
to  anger,  listened  with  earnestness  and  ready  faith. 

It  was  from  these  beginnings  that  the  Miracle  and 
Mystery  Plays  were  developed;  and  of  them  the 
strangest  seem  to  have  been  the  Festival  Dramas,  and 
especially  those  of  the  joyous  Christmas  season,  the 
Feast  of  the  Innocents,  and  the  Feast  of  the  Ass. 

The  former  was  said  to  have  been  introduced  into 
the  Christian  Church  by  Theophylact,  Patriarch  of 
Constantinople,  and  seems  almost  a  phantom-like 
recrudescence  of  the  Roman  Festa  Stultorum.  Choir- 
boys sat  in  the  stalls  of  the  Cathedrals,  priests  took 
their  lowly  places  on  stools,  and  the  children  elected, 
from  among  themselves,  a  Bishop  who  gave  the  episco- 
pal benediction  to  the  worshippers.  Beleth,  a  rever- 
end Doctor  of  Theology,  of  the  XII  century,  writes 
that  during   Christmas-tide,   the  "month  of  liberty," 


Symbolism  107 

four    dances    of    priests,    deacons,    sub-deacons,    and 
choristers  took  place  in  the  church  of  Paris. 

But  even  more  extraordinary  was  the  Feast  of  the 
Ass.  On  the  Eve  of  the  great  day,  the  chosen  animal 
was  led  to  the  door  of  the  Cathedral;  the  clergy,  in 
gorgeous  vestments,  advanced  to  meet  it,  and  two 
little  choir-boys  sang; 

O  light  to-day!  O  light  of  joy!  I  banish  every  sorrow; 
Wherever  found,  be  it  expelled  from  our  solemnities  to-morrow! 
Away  with  strife  and  grief  and  care  from  every  anxious  heart, 
And  all  be  filled  with  mirth  who  in  the  Ass's  Feast  take  part! 

The  ass  was  then  led  before  the  Dean  of  the 
Chapter  who  read  to  it  the  order  of  "solemnities," 
— which  sometimes  were  to  last  more  than  twenty- 
four  hours. 

The  most  shocking  part  of  this  feast  was  its  apparent 
travesty  of  the  holy  and  awful  ceremonial  of  the  Faith, 
the  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass.  On  the  following  day  "the 
ass,  wearing  a  cope  and  other  priestly  robes,  .  .  .  was 
met  at  the  entrance  of  the  church  by  the  Canons  and 
other  clergy,  and  conducted  up  the  nave  into  the 
chancel."  The  officiating  priests  were  waiting,  and 
"censers  were  swung  which  contained,  instead  of  the 
usual  fragrant  gums  and  spices,  fat  black-pudding 
and  sausage,  which  in  burning  exhaled  anything  but  a 
pleasant  perfume."  The  Introit,  the  supplication  of 
the  Kyrie,  the  praise  of  the  Gloria,  and  the  solemn 
Credo  were  chanted  in  "a  harsh,  braying  tone,"  the 


108  Symbolism 

Ass's  Litany  was  sung  in  Latin,  the  whole  congrega- 
tion roaring  its  French  refrain. 

From  the  regions  of  the  East, 
Came  the  ass,  the  worthy  beast, 
Strong  and  fair  beyond  compare, 
Heavy  burdens  fit  to  bear. 

Behold  with  what  enormous  ears, 
This  subjugal  son  appears, 
Most  egregious  ass,  we  see, 
Lord  of  asses  all  in  thee. 

Amen  thou  now  mayest  bray,  O  Ass, 
Satiate  with  corn  and  grass. 
Amen  repeat,  amen  reply, 
And  antiquity  defy. 
Hey!  Sir  Ass,  because  you  chant, 
Fair  mouth,  because  you  bray, 
You  shall  have  enough  of  hay 
And  also  oats  to  plant. 

At  the  close  of  the  Mass,  the  celebrant,  instead  of 
saying  "  Ite,  missa  est,"  broke  forth  into  a  loud  "hee 
haw,"  which  he  repeated  three  times  "as  a  parting 
benediction  to  the  worshippers." 

In  an  essay,  "The  Ass  in  the  Middle  Ages,"  which 
appeared  in  Didron's  "Archaeological  Annals,"  M.  Felix 
Clement  makes  these  explanatory  comments  upon  the 
famous  Litany,  "  It  is  from  the  Orient  that  the  Light 
comes  to  us;  the  Orient  is  the  cradle  of  the  human  race; 
from  the  Orient  came  the  wise  men,  the  Magi,  with 
whose  gifts  the  ass  was  laden;  in  the  Orient  appeared 


Symbolism  109 

the  star  which  guided  them  to  Bethlehem.  .  .  .  '  Fair ' 
refers  to  the  moral  beauty  of  Christ,  .  .  .  and 'heavy- 
burdens  fit  to  bear '  to  His  fitness  to  bear  the  burden 
of  a  sinful  world,  symbolised  by  the  heavy  weight  of 
the  Cross. 

"The  superiority  of  the  ass  to  the  other  animals, 
enumerated  in  the  fifth  verse,  signifies  that  Christ 
surpassed  in  excellence  all  the  Hebrew  prophets. 
'Antiquity  defy'  implies  that  old  things  have  passed 
away  and  that  the  Synagogue  has  been  supplanted  by 
the  Church.  Even  the  refrain  of  the  hymn,  '  Hey, 
Sir  Ass, '  is  an  abbreviation  of  '  Hasten  your  steps, 
0  divine  Messiah!'  " 

It  is  also  suggested  that  the  animal  was  specifically 
honoured  in  the  Scriptures  as  the  Ass  of  Balaam,  the 
Ass  of  the  Flight  into  Egypt,  the  Ass  placed  by 
tradition  with  the  ox  in  the  stalls  of  Bethlehem,  and 
the  Ass  of  Christ's  entrance  into  Jerusalem. 

"  But  whatever  symbolism  there  ma)r  have  been 
originally,"  writes  Evans,  "was  soon  swallowed  up  and 
lost  sight  of  in  gross  buffoonery,  and  the  religious  serv- 
ice degenerated  into  a  sort  of  Sat urnalian  amusement." 
Pious  prelates  gradually  began  to  fear  more  and  more 
profoundly  the  lowering  trend  of  these  performances. 
"In  1212  the  Council  of  Paris  forbade  nuns  to  celebrate 
the  Feast  of  Fools;  the  Council  of  Bourges  in  1286  and 
that  of  Bar  in  1300  condemned  all  dancing  in  the 
churches  and  churchyards;  and,  in  1497,"  the  Chapter 
of  the  Cathedral  of  Senlis  issued  an  order  permitting 


no  Symbolism 

the  lower  clergy  to  "  enjoy  their  diversions  before  the 
principal  portal  of  the  church  on  the  Eve  of  the  Epiph- 
any, provided  they  do  not  sing  infamous  songs  with 
ribald  and  obscene  words,  or  dance  in  a  lewd  manner, 
all  of  which  things,"  they  add,  "took  place  on  last 
Innocents'  Day." 

These  plays,  sacred  songs,  and  dances,  their  develop- 
ment, and  their  downfall,  have  so  much  oddity  and 
quaintness  that  the  degeneration  into  which  their 
naive  and  poetic  symbolism  often  fell  has  assumed  a 
greater  magnitude  in  proportion  to  the  whole  scheme 
of  mediaeval  theological  teaching  than  it  really  possesses. 
The  very  strangeness  of  these  things,  so  long  past  that 
they  are  almost  forgotten,  lends  to  them  an  interest 
which  is  quite  out  of  proportion  to  their  true  value  in 
the  religious,  artistic,  and  literary  perspective. 

In  the  same  way,  the  coarse  symbols  carved  upon 
the  walls  and  towers  and  screens  and  choir-stalls  of 
churches  appear,  by  their  very  vulgarity,  so  blasphe- 
mous, so  violently  intolerable  to  the  modern  sense,  that 
they  are  remembered  when  the  beautiful  and  ap- 
propriate portrayals  of  a  myriad  of  familiar  Biblical 
scenes  have  passed  from  the  mind. 

In  the  study  of  Gothic  symbolism,  all  its  phases 
should  be  considered;  but,  in  studying  them  justly, 
it  will  be  observed  that  the  unpleasing  representation, 
theatrical  or  sculptural,  was  a  sign  of  the  temper  of 
the  age,  not  of  a  special  tendency  or  callousness  of  the 
ecclesiastical  mind ;  and  one  quotation  from  the  Bishop 


'THE    PORTRAYAL     OF    .     .     .     FAMILIAR     BIBLICAL    SCENES." AMIENS. 


Symbolism  113 

of  Mende  who  wrote  in  1286,  that  century  of  the  great- 
est Gothic,  will  perhaps  show  how  much  the  general 
moral  viewpoint  of  a  majority  of  Christian  folk  has 
changed. 

"A  woman,"  writes  Monseigneur  Durand,  "must 
cover  her  head  in  the  church  because  she  is  not  the 
Image  of  God,  and  because  by  woman  sin  began.  And 
therefore,  in  the  church,  out  of  respect  for  the  Priest, 
who  is  the  Vicar  of  Christ,  in  his  presence  as  before  a 
judge,  she  hath  her  head  covered  and  not  at  liberty; 
and  on  account  of  the  same  reverence,  she  hath  not 
the  power  of  speaking  in  the  church  before  him." 
This  rather  extravagantly  low  notion  of  woman  as  the 
Origin  of  Sin  had  its  illustration  in  many  forms  less 
harmless  than  the  good  Bishop's  homily,  and  in  sculp- 
ture there  are  still  many  demonstrations,  which  art 
has  preserved,  of  a  past  stage  in  the  human  evolution 
from  animalism  to  refinement.  Such  standards  of 
delicate  and  fastidious  feeling  as  moderns  have  suc- 
ceeded in  attaining,  however  far  from  the  highest,  are 
displeased  by  these  mediaeval  illustrations;  but  again 
and  again,  a  mind  which  is  not  shocked  into  prejudice 
perceives  that,  rather  than  representing  sordid  reli- 
gious ideals,  they  depict  certain  material  ideas  of  that 
day,  which  were  allowed  to  creep  into  holy  places  and 
profane  them. 

Symbolism  has  often  proved  a  treacherous  form 
of  expression;  it  denotes  a  poetic  and  frequently  an 
highly  emotional  phase  of  thought ;  and,  in  its  portrayal 


ii4 


Symbolism 


of  religious  emotion,  the  dividing  line  between  erotism 
and  fervour  was  too  often  obscured. 

Another  series  of  mediaeval  representations  unpleas- 
ing  to  the  modern  religious  mind  are  well  illustrated 

by    such  extrava- 


gant  symbols  as 
those  which  ma- 
terialise the  word 
paintings  o  f  the 
Apocalypse  or 
Revelation  of 
Saint  John  the 
Divine.  Even  to- 
d  a  y  the  Apoca- 
lypse receives 
numerous  strange 
interpretations;  it 
is  therefore  not 
surprising  that  the 
Middle  Ages,  with 
far  fewer  sources 
of  knowledge  than 
ourselves,     should 


IN     SCULPTURE    HE    WAS     CARVED    .     .     .    RIDIC- 
ULOUSLY,     HORRIBLY.    " PARIS. 


have  attempted  to  portray  with  literal  fidelity  this 
vivid  Vision. 

No  better  instance  of  this  kind  of  symbol  can  be 
given  than  that  of  the  Evil  One.  "A  time  came," 
writes  M.  Reville,  in  his  History  of  the  Devil,  "when 
l  lie  idea  that  Satan  had  a  distinct  bodily  shape  became 


Symbolism  115 

settled;  the  form  was  that  of  the  ancient  fauns  and 
satyrs,  with  protruding  legs,  hairy  skin,  tail,  and  cloven 
foot."  He  was  evil  in  every  abhorrent  form;  some- 
times blasphemous  as  well  as  evil  in  language  and  often 
well  pummelled  on  the  church's  stage  to  the  satisfac- 
tion of  a  shouting  audience.  In  sculpture,  he  was 
carved  obscenely,  ridiculously,  horribly;  made  in  later 
days  to  appear  as  a  buffoon,  a  cynic,  or  a  marplot;  and, 
in  the  greater  periods  of  Gothic  art,  he  even  rose  to  the 
awful  dignity  of  Lucifer,  the  "Horror  of  earth's  dread 
tragedy." 

"  It  is  important, "  writes  Didron,  "when  we  study  a 
Cathedral  door,  a  sculptured  arch-stone,  a  Last  Judg- 
ment, or  a  Hell  painted  on  glass,  that  we  should  be 
able  to  distinguish  Satan  the  Chief  from  his  two  prin- 
cipal agents,  and  those  again  from  the  crowd  of  lesser 
demons.  The  detailed  description  of  the  Apocalypse 
furnishes  all  the  data,  for  this  distinction." 

"And  there  appeared,"  records  the  author  of  this 
strange  book,  "another  wonder  in  heaven;  and  behold  a 
great  red  dragon,  having  seven  heads  and  ten  horns, 
and  seven  crowns  upon  his  heads,  and  his  tail  drew  the 
third  part  of  the  stars  of  heaven,  .  .  .  and  the  great 
dragon  was  cast  out,  that  old  serpent,  called  the  Devil, 
and  Satan,  which  deceiveth  the  whole  world,  he  was 
cast  out  .   .   .  and  his  angels  were  cast  out  with  him." 

Besides  this  arch-fiend  of  heavenly  origin,  and  his 
company  of  fallen  spirits,  there  was  a  subject,  but 
mighty,   "Demon  of  the  Water,"  a  beast  which  rose 


n6  Symbolism 

"up  out  of  the  sea,  having  seven  heads  and  ten  horns, 
and  upon  his  horns  ten  crowns,  and  upon  his  heads  the 
name  of  Blasphemy.  And  the  beast  .  .  .  was  like 
unto  a  leopard,  and  his  feet  were  as  the  feet  of  a  bear, 
and  his  mouth  as  the  mouth  of  a  lion;  and  the  Dragon 
gave  him  his  power  and  his  seat  and  great  authority." 

Still  another  beast,  a  "Demon  of  the  Land,"  came 
"out  of  the  earth,  and  he  had  two  horns  like  a  lamb 
and  he  spake  as  a  dragon,"  and  he  also  had  mighty 
power  and  completed  this  trinity  of  Evil. 

There  was  also  a  multitude  of  other  figures,  beauti- 
ful and  terrible, — "  a  mighty  angel  clothed  with  a  cloud 
and  a  rainbow  .  .  .  upon  his  head,  and  his  face  was 
as  it  were  the  sun,  and  his  feet  as  pillars  of  fire";  four 
seemingly  lesser  angels,  "holding  the  four  winds  of  the 
earth";  a  "woman,"  who  is  supposed  to  prefigure  the 
Virgin,  "clothed  with  the  sun,  and  the  moon  under  her 
feet,  and  upon  her  head  a  crown  of  twelve  stars" ;  and  "  a 
pale  horse  and  his  name  that  sat  on  him  was  Death,  and 
Hell  followed  with  him." 

All  these  figures  were  vividly  seen  by  the  Faithful 
of  the  Middle  Ages;  they  haunted  his  dreams,  they 
soothed  or  terrified  him;  and  they  appear  again  and 
again  in  his  churches  and  show  a  far  greater  and  more 
literal  familiarity  with  the  Bible  than  is  common  to 
modern  times. 

Besides  these  terrors,  and  grave  and  serious  absurdi- 
ties of  apocalyptic  interpretations,  another  series  of 
symbols   grew  into   great  favour;    and  some  of  them 


A        CATHEDRAL-DOOR.     CHARTRES. 


Symbolism  119 

became  so  venerable  in  the  eyes  of  the  pious  that,  dur- 
ing his  Pontificate  from  1352  to  1362,  Pope  Innocent 
III  affirmed  in  a  Bull  that  "the  Lance,  Nail,  and  other 
instruments  of  the  Passion  are  everywhere  to  be  held 
in  reverence  of  all  Christian  people,"  and  he  "  instituted 
a  religious  festival  in  their  honour."  The  pictures  of 
the  Chalice,  not  as  a  sacramental  vase,  but  as  "the 
full  measure  of  the  Lord's  suffering, "  the  Nails,  the 
Seamless  Coat,  Hammer,  Sponge,  Ladder,  Pincers, 
the  Crown  of  Thorns,  the  Spear,  even  the  Dice,  recalled 
to  the  worshipper  the  last  hours  of  Christ. 

Efforts  were  made  to  create  as  vividly  and,  as  it 
were,  liturgically,  other  symbols  which  should  show 
more  abstruse  theological  verities  and  illustrate  defi- 
nitely, and  yet  with  some  degree  of  simplicity,  a  char- 
acter or  a  theme.  God  the  Father  possessed  the  nim- 
bus of  Perfection,  and  Completion,  a  double  triangle ;  a 
cruciform  nimbus  denoted,  of  course,  Jesus  Christ,  the 
Crucified  One;  and  the  halo  of  Moses  was  formed  by 
long  shafts  of  light  in  interpretation — or  misinterpre- 
tation— of  the  Biblical  words,  "and  they  saw  that  the 
face  of  the  Lawgiver,  when  he  came  out,  was  horned." 
Judas 's  halo  was  usually  a  dull,  gloomy  yellow,  and 
Satan's  was  black.  When  the  Almighty  Father  was 
portrayed  with  a  crown,  it  was  capped  and  arched; 
the  diadem  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  was  capped  but 
not  arched ;  and  there  were  degrees  of  holy  rank  indi- 
cated by  the  "  nimbus,"  the  "  aureole,"  and  the  "  glory." 

It   was   difficult,   if   not   impossible,   to   be  entirely 


120  Symbolism 

specific.  A  dove  is  always  a  dove,  but  that  of  Noah 
betokened  rest ;  that  of  David,  peace ;  and  that  of  Christ, 
salvation.  Obviously,  to  express  the  artist's  exact 
thought  or  lesson,  it  was  necessary  to  add  to  his  picture 
some  explanatory  detail  beside  the  figure  of  the  bird. 

As  the  palm  was  the  martyr's  symbol  and  the  scal- 
loped shell  that  of  the  pilgrim  Saint,  so,  in  depicting 
one  among  the  multitude  of  pilgrims  and  martyrs, 
some  more  personal  token  had  to  be  given.  The 
Apostles  and  Saints  had  always  some  emblem  which 
made  them  easily  distinguishable.  Saint  Thomas 
carried  his  carpenter's  square;  Saint  Philip,  who  is 
believed  to  have  been  hanged  from  a  high  column  at 
Hierapolis,  stands  near  this  strange  gibbet.  In  memory 
of  Christ's  words,  "  I  tell  thee,  Peter,  the  cock  shall 
not  crow  this  day  before  that  thou  shalt  thrice  deny 
Me,"  the  Prince  of  the  Apostles  is  sometimes  repre- 
sented with  a  cock,  but  oftener  he  holds  the  Keys  in 
illustration  of  the  nineteenth  verse  of  the  sixteenth 
chapter  of  Saint  Matthew's  Gospel,  "  I  will  give  unto 
thee  the  Keys  of  the  Kingdom  of  heaven." 

Saint  Matthew,  who  was  put  to  death  in  Parthia, 
carries  a  hatchet,  the  instrument  of  his  martyrdom, 
or  the  money-bags  which  show  that  he  was  once  a  re- 
ceiver of  taxes.  The  Beloved  Disciple  has  a  Chalice 
and,  if  a  serpent  issues  from  the  Sacred  Cup,  the  Chris- 
tian was  reminded  of  that  impious  priest  of  Diana  who 
challenged  the  Apostle  to  drink  from  a  poisoned  glass, 
of  the  sign  of  the  Cross  which  Saint  John  made  over  it, 


Symbolism 


121 


and  of  Satan  who  darted  away  in  the  form  of  a  snake 
and  left  the  wine  harmless. 

The  Evangelists  have  not  only  these  personal  signs, 
but  symbols  peculiar  to  their  attributes  as  writers. 
The  lion  belongs  to  Saint  Mark  because  his  Gospel 
begins  with  the  "Voice  of  one  crying,"  like  a  wild 
animal  roaming  "in  the  wilderness";  the  ox,  emblem 
of  sacrifice,  denoted  Saint  Luke,  who  dwells  upon  the 
priesthood  of  his  Lord.  Saint  Matthew  is  represented 
as  the  angel,  and,  to  commemorate  the  "lofty  flights" 
of  his  religious  thought,  Saint  John  is  pictured  as  the 
eagle. 

Saint  Stephen  often  has  a  stone  in  his  hand,  Saint 
Mary  Magdalene  holds  the  box  or  vase  of  ointment; 
Saint  Lawrence,  who  was  "bound  with  chains  upon  a 
gridiron  and  slowly  roasted  to  death,"  bears  the  instru- 
ment of  his  fearful  martyrdom,  and  one  particularly 
beautiful  and  poetic  symbol  was  embodied  in  the 
ancient  liturgical  custom  of  placing  the  Blessed  Sac- 
rament in  a  hanging  vessel  formed  as  a  dove. 

The  theological  sculptor  had,  of  necessity,  to  be 
deeply  learned  in  the  details,  not  only  of  Church  history 
and  tradition,  but  even  of  doctrine.  "Among  those 
masses  of  Cathedral  sculpture,"  writes  Doctor  White, 
"which  preserve  so  much  of  mediasval  theology,  one 
frequently  recurring  group  is  noteworthy  for  its  pre- 
sentment of  a  time-honoured  doctrine  regarding  the 
origin  of  the  universe.  The  Almighty,  in  human  form, 
sits  benignly  making  the  sun,  moon,   and  stars,  and 


122  Symbolism 

hanging  them  from  the  solid  firmament  which  supports 
the  '  heaven  above.'  The  furrows  on  the  Creator's 
brow  show  that  in  this  work  He  is  obliged  to  contrive ; 
the  knotted  muscles  upon  His  arms  show  that  He  is 
obliged  to  toil ;  naturally,  then,  the  sculptors  and  paint- 
ers of  the  mediaeval  and  early  modern  period  frequently 
represented  Him — as  the  writers  whose  conceptions 
they  embodied  had  done — as,  on  the  seventh  day, 
weary  after  thought  and  toil,  enjoying  well-earned 
repose  and  the  plaudits  of  the  hosts  of  heaven. 

"  In  these  thought-fossils  of  the  Cathedrals,  and  in 
other  revelations  of  the  same  idea  through  sculpture, 
painting,  glass  staining,  mosaic  work,  and  engraving, 
during  the  Middle  Ages  and  the  two  centuries  following, 
culminated  a  belief  which  had  been  developed  through 
thousands  of  years,  and  which  has  determined  the 
world's  thought  until  our  own  time  .  .  .  the  concep- 
tion of  a  Creator  of  whom  man  is  an  imperfect  image, 
and  who  literally  and  directly  created  the  visible  uni- 
verse with  His  hands  and  ringers."  1 

But  the  care  for  details,  the  minute  differences  be- 
tween "aureoles,"  "halos,"  and  "glories,"  the  careful 
portrayal  of  an  unimportant  tradition  of  the  merely 
physical  aspect  of  a  subject,  betokens  no  neglect  of  the 
cardinal  events  of  Gospel  history  and  no  ignorance 
of  any  portion  of  the  larger  Bible  which  the  Church 
holds  canonical.  Nor  is  there  any  tendency  to  exclude 
great  truths  or  to  neglect  the  Gospel  for  holy  legend. 

1  White,  A.  D.  History  of  Warfare  of  Science  with  Theology  in 
Christendom. 


Symbolism 


123 


chis-    t/y  {±aJ  '&&<$ 


Everywhere  the  supremacy  of  Christ  is  proclaimed, — 
Christ  the  new-born  Emmanuel,  the  Child  in  the  Tem- 
ple, the  Preacher,  the  Worker  of  Miracle,  but  especially 
Christ  the  Guide  and  Judge.  The  most  prominent 
position  is  assigned  to  the  scenes  which  portray  these 
attributes  of  the  God- 
man,  and  the  most  skil-  EF  ^  .  „  Vv*  .  f 
ful  and  intellectual  of  the 
mediaeval  artists 
elled  them.  After  they 
were  completed,  God  was 
glorified  in  His  Saints, — ■ 
the  Prophets  of  the  Old 
Dispensation,  the  Disci- 
ples who  accompanied 
Him,  and  the  many  holy 
ones  of  all  nations  and 
peoples  who  "followed  in 
His  train";  and,  in  more 
than  one  of  the  older 
Cathedrals  of  the  Isle- 
de- France,  the  sculptures 
rise  to  the  height  of  il- 
lustrating a  wonderfully 
developed  and  complete 
theological  scheme. 

Many   of   these   sculp- 
tured   copies    of    the    Scripture    were    imperfect,    as 
all    human    endeavour    seems    doomed    to    be,    and 


EVERYWHERE    THE      SUPREMACY    OF 

CHRIST      IS    PROCLAIMED," THE 

"BEAUTIFUL  GOD  OF  REIMS.  " 


124 


Symbolism 


may  perhaps  be  fairly  likened  to  the  efforts  of 
those  preachers  of  to-day  who  are  uncultured,  too 
literal,  or  uncouth;  but  many,  on  the  contrary,  were 


GOD    WAS   GLORIFIED    IN    .     .     .    THE    PROPHETS   OF   THE    OLD 
DISPENSATION.  " AMIENS. 


suggestively  and  inspiringly  noble  and  beautiful.  At 
Bourges,  Reims,  Paris,  Laon,  and  Rouen,  the  life  of 
Christ,  in  Prophecy,  Gospel,  and  Revelation,  is  the 
great  theme,  and  the  lesser  subjects  appear  to  have 


Symbolism 


I25 


been  chosen  with   broad   electicism,   and  Amiens,   as 
Ruskin  has  truly  said,  has  its  great  "Bible." 

So  far  as  she  was  able,  the  Church  filled  the  land  of 
France  with  these  Bibles  of  stone,  and  such  as  still 
remain  are  a  mute  but  magnificent  refutation  of  the  too 
sweeping  statement  that  she  kept  the  knowledge  of 


"IX   MORE  THAN  ONE  OF  THE  OLDER  CATHEDRALS  OF  THE  ISLE-DE-FRANCE, 

THE    SCULPTURES    ILLUSTRATE    A    WONDERFULLY    DEVELOPED    .     .    . 

THEOLOGICAL    SCHEME.  " CHARTRES. 

Holy  Writ  from  the  people  and  held  them  in  mere 
ignorant  subjection.  To  the  clerics,  the  only  class 
of  men  who  had  books  and  cared  overmuch  to  read 
them,  she  gave  her  manuscripts  and  the  care  of  preach- 
ing and  interpretation;  to  the  layman,  who  could  read 
but  little,  or  not  at  all,  she  gave  pictures,  many  hun- 
dreds of  different  pictures,  which  told  the  story  of  her 


126  Symbolism 

Faith;  and,  from  sunrise  until  the  night  closed  down, 
every  one,  from  the  proudest  lord  to  the  humblest  old 
peasant,  might  find  his  Bible  in  the  Cathedral,  and 
might  come  as  he  would  and  study  the  Holy  Book  in 
stone,  in  fresco,  or  in  glass. 


The  Early  Gothic 


127 


THE  EARLY  GOTHIC 

According  to  the  Thirteenth  Epitome  of 

Florus,     the    early    inhabitants    of    Sens 

Sens.        were    "an    uncouth    race,    .    .    .    terrible 

in  war,  who  caused  such  profound  dread 

by  their  own  size  and  that  of  their  gigantic  weapons 

that  they  seemed  born  for  the  destruction  of  men  and 

cities."     They  held  Meaux,  Paris,  Auxerre,  and  Troves; 

and    before    the  III    century,   when    their  barbarous 

ferocity  was  tamed  by  the  more  ordered  ruthlessness 

of  the  Romans,  their  capital  had  become  one  of  the 

most  powerful  cities  of  Gaul. 

During  the  Dark  Ages  the  martial  history  of  Sens 
was  still  fiercely  dramatic.  It  had  passed  from 
Pagan  to  Christian  rulers;  and  in  the  same  year  that 
Charles  Martel  in  Poitou  accomplished  his  masterly 
defeat  of  the  Saracens,  Saint-Ebbon,  the  Archbishop, 
raised  an  army  of  his  vassals  and  no  less  valiantly 
arrested  their  advancing  co-religionists  in  Burgundy. 

But  ten  centuries  have  passed  since  those  war-like 
days,  and  Sens  has  lost  its  prestige.  In  political,  in 
geographical,  and  even  in  ecclesiastical  importance, 
it  has  steadily  and  surely  declined,  and  in  the  eyes  of 
the  world  of  to-day  it  is  but  a  pleasant  town  on  the 

9  I  29 


i3o 


The  Early  Gothic 


plains  of  the  Yonne.  Looking  across  the  neighbouring 
fields,  a  few  groups  of  trees  suffice  to  hide  the  little 
cluster  of  housetops ;  and,  to  those  on  the  slow-moving 
barges  and   boats   of   the   river,  it   is   often  only   the 


n 


"to  those  on  the  slow-moving  barges  and  boats  of  the  river,  it 
IS    often     only     the    cathedral   .    .    .    WHICH   TELLS 

THAT    A     CITY    IS     NEAR."- SENS. 


Cathedral,  rising  heavy  and   bold,  which  tells   that    a 
city  is  near. 

Many  Sees  claim  that  their  Cathedral  replaced  a 
Temple,  that  their  first  Bishop  wa.s  sent  directly  by 
Saint  Peter,  that  he  was  a  martyr,  a  thaumaturge,  and 
even  a  friend  of  Christ.  Sens  makes  all  these  claims, 
and  adds  to  them  that  which  is  scarcely  less  interesting. 


Sens  131 

the  fact  of  "having  raised  to  God  the  first  monumenl 
of  Gothic  form,"  of  being  "the  first  to  conceive  and 
execute  in  an  imperishable  work  the  marvellous  lines 
of  this  new  style." 

In  his  architectural  genealogy,  Viollet-le-Duc  places 
it  between  the  Abbey  of  Saint-Denis  and  Notre-Dame 
of  Paris.  He  writes:  "  Both  in  plan  and  in  style  .  .  . 
Saint  Stephen  of  Sens  is  an  original  Cathedral;  con- 
temporaneous with  .  .  .  Noyon,  it  is  without  Noyon's 
delicacy  and  elegance,  and  in  spite  of  the  adoption  of 
the  new  system  of  architecture,  the  amplitude  of  Ro- 
manesque construction  still  persists  .  .  .  like  the  last 
reflection  of  classic  antiquity."  These  older  tradi- 
tions are  marked  in  the  foundations  and  the  lower 
arches;  but  as  the  walls  become  higher,  the  pointed 
form  grows  more  and  more  accentuated  and  the  Gothic 
seems  to  spring  and  grow  before  one's  eyes.  Begun  in 
1 1 24,  or  perhaps  a  few  years  later,  the  church's  origi- 
nal plan  included  three  aisles,  a  choir,  ambulatory,  and 
two  or  three  chapels,  and  this  plan  was  practically 
completed  in  1 168. 

In  the  broad,  side-aisles  of  Sens  the  illusion  of  the 
Romanesque  is  almost  complete.  The  low  windows 
open  above  little  arcades  and  the  vaulting  springs  full 
and  rounded  from  pillar  to  pillar.  The  arches  at  the 
entrance  of  these  aisles  and  the  ambulatory  suggest, 
however,  the  transition  to  the  tentative  Gothic. 

Double  columns  alternate  with  great,  clustered  pil- 
lars in  supporting  the  tall,  dividing  arches  of  the  nave. 


132 


The  Early  Gothic 


A  low  triforium  has  double  arcades  beneath  large  win- 
dows which  form  an  higher  clerestory.  The  breadth 
and  regularity  of  this  low  central  nave  are  beautifully 

measured;  and  it  has 
strength  a  n  d  solidity, 
with  an  attempt  a  t 
lightness.  The  alterna- 
tion of  double,  round 
columns  and  the  more 
complex  pillars  interrupts 
an  effect  which  is  almost 
monotonous,  and,  al- 
though the  newer  style 
seems  uncertain  and  still, 
as  it  were,  in  the  shadow 
of  the  old,  there  is  ap- 
preciable progression  in 
form  from  aisle  to  nave. 

With  the  exception  of 

the  Lady  Chapel,  built  in 

1206,   the  chapels  which 

cluster  about  the  apse  do 

not  add  to  its  importance, 

they   were    not   included 

in  the  original  plan  and 

are  not  an  integral  part 

of  the  church.     They  are  filled  with  tombs  which  are 

also  of  secondary  interest,   and   the  more  remarkable 

details    of    the    choir    lie    in    its    ambulatory.      Here, 


BENEATH        A       ROMANESQUE       ARCH 

.     .     .     IS      A      WORN      BAS-RELIEF     OF 

SENS'S   FAMOUS  VISITOR,   THOMAS- 

A-BECKET,       ARCHBISHOP      OF 

CANTERBURY.  " SENS. 


Sens 


*33 


beneath  a  Romanesque  arch  of  the  North  side,  is  a 
worn  bas-relief  of  Sens's  famous  visitor,  Thomas-a- 
Becket,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  On  the  South  side, 
beneath  a  graceful  arcade,  is  the  entrance  to  the  barrel- 
vaulted  Treasury;  and  on  this  side  also,  hidden  high  in 
the  wall,  there  is  a  window  which  opens  into  the  archi- 
episcopal  Palace.  In  this  window  the  Archbishop  sat 
and  looked  down  into  his  Cathedral,  and,  both  seeing 
and  hearing  the  officiating  priests  at  the  High  Altar, 
could  assist,  unobserved,  at  Mass. 

The  nave  has  also  several  charming  details.  The 
monument  which  the  Archbishop  Tristan  de  Salazar 
erected  against  one  of  the  pillars  has  not  the  slight- 
est relevancy  with  the  surrounding  architecture. 
Where  it  seems  graceful,  the  pillars,  by  contrast,  are 
cumbersome ;  where  their  dignity  is  imposing,  it  seems 
light  and  trivial.  In  itself,  however,  this  retable  is  a 
lovely  bit  of  Gothic  chiselling;  in  delicacy  of  fancy,  it 
is  exquisite  and  no  other  single  ornament  of  the  church 
is  as  beautiful. 

At  the  right  of  the  Southern  portal  of  the  facade,  there 
are  vestiges  of  an  equestrian  statue  of  Philip  VI,  the 
King  of  France  who  championed  the  cause  of  the 
Church  in  a  General  Assembly  of  the  Clergy  and  Barons 
held  in  Paris  on  the  eighth  of  December,  1329.  In 
this  noble  Assembly,  Pierre  de  Cugnieres,  a  lawyer, 
vehemently  arose  and  accused  the  great  ecclesiastical 
lords  of  growing  despotism.  Pierre  Roger,  Archbishop 
of  Sens,  later  Clement  VI,  strong  in  the    sympathy  of 


134 


The  Early  Gothic 


the  King,  warmly  defended  what  he  termed  "the 
immemorial  rights  and  privileges"  of  his  order,  and  the 
audacious  layman  was  excommunicated.      The  great 


l  I 


i 


THIS  RKTABLE  IS  A  LOVELY  BIT  OF  GOTHIC  CHIS- 
ELLING. " -SENS. 

Archbishop,  desiring  to  perpetuate  the  humiliation  of 
his  adversary,  ordered  that  the  head  of  de  Cugnieres 
should  be  carved  on  one  of  the  pillars  of  the  Cathedral. 
The  people,  delighting  in  this  mask,  mockingly  called 


THE    TRANSEPTS,    CONSTRUCTED    ALMOST    FOUR     HUNDRED    YEARS    LATER 
THAN    THE    BODY    OF    THE    CHURCH,  PRESENT  THE   GREATEST   CONTRAST 
TO    THE    RETIRING     SOBRIETY    OF    THE     EARLIER     FORMS.  "—SENS. 


1 35 


Sens  137 

it  "Jean  de  Coignot,"  and  not  content  with  the  derision 
of  the  populace,  the  Canons  marched  before  it  and 
solemnly  went  through  the  impressive  and  awful  cere- 
mony of  excommunication  on  each  successive  eighth 
of  December.  The  head  that  now  peers  from  the  pil- 
lar is  not  the  original,  grimacing  face  which  disap- 
peared— perhaps  in  the  Revolution  of  '89;  and  the  new 
"Jean  de  Coignot"  is  neglected  alike  by  clergy  and 
people  and,  even  among  tourists,  he  has  lost  his  fame. 

"  De  Coignot"  and  the  retable  are  merely  details, 
but  the  stained-glass  of  the  church  is  far  more  import- 
ant. In  the  South  aisle,  there  is  a  window  created  by 
the  famous  Senonais  artist,  Jean  Coussin,  which  rep- 
resents the  life  of  Saint-Eutrope ;  in  the  North  aisle, 
the  early  XII  century  glass  has  great  value,  and 
there  is  XIII  century  glass  in  the  choir.  But  the 
splendour  of  the  art  is  found  in  the  transepts, — the 
Last  Judgment  of  the  Southern  rose,  the  marvellous 
windows  representing  the  Tree  of  Jesse  and  the 
history  of  Saint-Nicolas;  and  the  pictured  apparitions 
of  the  Angel  Gabriel  to  Daniel,  to  Zacharias,  and  to  the 
Virgin  Mary.  There  are  also  the  stories  of  Abraham 
and  of  Joseph,  the  superb  figures  of  sixteen  Arch- 
bishops of  Sens  who  are  honoured  among  the  Saints, 
and  last — that  marvel  among  marvels — the  Northern 
rose,  which  shows  Christ  radiant  and  triumphant  in 
the  midst  of  His  Angels. 

The  walls  which  hold  these  windows  are,  like  them, 
of    the  late  XV   century.       Constructed    almost    four 


138  The  Early  Gothic 

hundred  years  later  than  the  body  of  the  church,  they 
present  the  greatest  contrast  to  the  retiring  sobriety  of 
the  earlier  forms.  They  have  no  triforium,  the  pointed 
arch  is  surmounted  by  a  large  and  magnificent  cleres- 
tory, and  the  Gothic  appears  in  the  glory  of  its  tall 
windows  and  roses, — the  creation  of  Martin  Cambiche. 
This  renowned  architect  built  at  Troyes,  at  Beauvais, 
and  at  Senlis;  but,  with  the  exception  of  Beauvais, 
these  gracious  and  radiant  transepts  of  Sens  are  his 
most  beautiful  work. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  the  first  plan  of  the  Cathedral 
should  have  undergone  so  many  modifications  that  its 
original  symmetry  is  almost  lost.  Unpleasing  pro- 
portions and,  as  it  were,  architectural  excrescences  are 
too  often  due,  not  to  the  helpless  architect,  but  to  some 
powerful,  pious,  and  inartistic  donor  of  chapels;  and 
in  studying  a  Cathedral,  it  is  often  found  that  its  more 
displeasing  portions  are  addenda  of  later,  uncompre- 
hending generations.  The  transepts  of  Sens  are  so 
beautiful  that  their  intrusion  seems  almost  justifiable 
or  at  least  pardonable,  and  by  their  position  in  the 
interior  of  the  church  they  are  so  hidden  that  they  do 
not  materially  disturb  the  general  harmony.  There  is, 
however,  not  even  a  sophistical  excuse  for  the  in- 
troduction of  the  lateral  chapels.  In  1864,  large 
chapels  were  destroyed  that  new  ones  might  be  built 
and  the  church  "restored  in  its  primitive  style."  It 
would  seem  as  if  the  latter  half  of  the  XIX  cen- 
tury  should     have  developed   a  more    critical    sense; 


Sens 


139 


for  the  "primitive  style"  did  not  include  any  lateral 
chapels  at  all,  and  these  unhappy,  modern  construc- 
tions, far  from  possessing  anv  inherent  beauty,  resem- 
ble funeral  vaults.     Little,  Romanesque  arcades  open 


"LITTLE     ROMANESQUE      ARCADES     OPEN     INTO     THEIR     LOW     AND     SOMBRE 
DEPTHS.  " SENS. 


into   their  low  and  sombre  depths,  and  if  they  have 
any  good  quality  it  is  that  of  a  retiring  modesty. 

The  church's  exterior  is,  as  a  whole,  rather  heavy  and 
cumbersome.  Its  apse  and  lateral  walls  have  the 
characteristic  feature  of  the  French  style,  flying  but- 
tresses, but  they  are  tentative  and  useful,  rather  than 
beautiful  or  decorative.     The  old  North  wall  has,  too, 


140  The  Early  Gothic 

the  door  of  Saint- Denis,  a  small  but  elegant  portal 
which  formerly  opened  upon  the  Canons'  Cloister. 
But,  since  the  Cloister  has  disappeared,  the  little  door 
is  neglected  and  almost  forgotten  and  has  lost  its 
original  significance  in  the  architectural  scheme.  The 
facade  is  the  most  imposing  part  of  the  old  plan.  In 
juxtaposition  with  the  masterpieces  of  Amiens  and 
Reims,  it  would  seem  rather  primitive  and  severe;  it 
is  not  as  graceful  as  that  of  the  one-towered  Cathedral 
of  Auxerre,  nor  as  barren  as  that  of  Soissons.  Above 
the  three  portals,  there  is  a  story  of  dissimilar  Gothic 
windows;  the  facade  wall  is  then  continued  by  a  low 
gallery  and  a  crude  little  rose;  higher  still,  there  is  an 
archaic  bas-relief  of  Christ  in  the  attitude  of  benedic- 
tion, with  a  worshipping  Angel  on  either  side,  and 
this  middle  wall  is  terminated  by  three  pinnacles,  a 
Cross,  and  a  balustrade.  The  towers,  above  their  win- 
dowed stories,  have  practical  balconies;  the  North 
side  is  ornamented  with  a  blind  arcade,  and  the  South 
side  has  similarly  decorated  arches  which  protect  five 
colossal  statues  of  Saints.  Philip  Augustus  built  a  por- 
tion of  the  North  tower,  which  was  called  the  "Tower 
of  Lead,"  but,  in  1845,  every  stone  above  the  level 
of  the  facade  wall  was  razed;  and  only  the  Southern 
belfry  now  stands  complete,  barely  two  hundred  feet 
high,  finely  composed,  but  squat.  On  its  heavy  stages 
perches  a  little  campanile,  which  is  vulgarly  called 
"the  wart "  on  the  great  body  of  the  church,  and  here 
the  public  watchman  of  the  Cathedral  used  to  live. 


Sens 


in 


Perhaps  the  most  interesting  details  of  the  fagade 
are  its  three  portals;  and  of  these,  the  central  door  is 
much  the  more  symmetrical  and  important.  The 
Marseillais  troops  which  traversed  the  city  during  the 
Great  Revolution  mutilated  its  sculptures  and  de- 
stroyed nearly  all  its  large  statues.  That  of  the  Patron 
Saint,  Stephen,  still  stands  on  the  dividing  pier,  because 
the  fanatical  soldiers  of  '93  considered  the  Bible, 
which  he  holds,  a  book  of  "the  law,"  and  thought  the 
martyr  a  true  "republican"  like  themselves  and  not 
a  "vile,  saintly  reactionary."  The  other  sculptured 
"reactionaries"  were  more  easily  recognised  and,  after 
the  fashion  of  the  Revolution,  readily  decapitated.  The 
imagination,  however,  finds  no  difficulty  in  picturing 
the  original  scheme  of  the  door  and  its  familiar  subjects. 
There  are  still  almost  fifty  medallions,  representations 
of  the  months  of  the  year,  the  Liberal  Arts,  and  the 
Wise  and  Foolish  Virgins ;  and  in  the  tympanum,  there 
are  scenes  of  the  life  of  Saint  Stephen.  Angels  and 
Saints,  who  adorn  the  vaulting,  seem  to  assist  at  his 
triumph,  and  look  towards  the  blessing  Hand  of  the 
All- Powerful  which  appears  from  a  cloud. 

According  to  the  loyal  Senonais,  the  "transfigura- 
tion "  in  architecture,  which  this  Cathedral  of  the  heavy 
facade  and  apse  and  the  three  unbroken  aisles  helped 
to  inaugurate,  "came  at  a  providential  moment."  For 
between  1163  and  1165,  Alexander  III  spent  eighteen 
months  of  his  exile  in  Sens ;  and,  by  making  it  the  cent  re 
of  Christendom,  aided  unconsciously  in  implanting  a 


142  The  Early  Gothic 

knowledge  and  admiration  of  the  new  form  in  the 
minds  of  the  Princes  of  the  Church  who  came  to  do 
him  homage.  This  propagation  of  an  early  Gothic 
ideal  was  more  potential  than  would  seem  to  the  modern 
mind;  for  the  great  ecclesiastical  Princes  were  also  the 
great  builders  who  inspired  architects  to  new  develop- 
ments of  the  parent  idea  of  Sens.  Such  is  history  as 
read  by  more  than  one  learned  antiquarian  of  the 
quiet,  little  town.  They  forgot  the  more  famous 
Abbey  of  Saint-Denis  and  the  fine  and  almost  contem- 
poraneous style  of  Noyon.  Yet  it  is  true  that  the 
primitive  effort  of  the  archiepiscopal  city  strongly 
impressed  at  least  one  illustrious  visitor,  exiled  like 
the  Pope, — Thomas  of  Canterbury;  and  Sens,  although 
far  from  being  the  greatest  of  French  Cathedrals,  in- 
spired one  of  the  most  far  famed  of  those  in  Eng- 
land. William  of  Sens  went  in  person  to  superintend 
the  construction  of  the  new  Cathedral  of  Canterbury 
whose  choir  he  planned,  and  France  again  helped  in 
the  beautifying  of  Norman  England. 

No  local  originality,  of  course,  is  claimed  for  the 
transepts.  Except  for  their  lack  of  the  glory  of  colour, 
their  outer  walls  are  as  beautiful  as  their  interior 
perspectives.  The  Flamboyant  in  these  transepts 
has  a  beauty  in  which  there  is  no  trace  of  the  laboured 
or  the  artificial.  A  charming  portal,  with  a  heavy 
tympanum,  is  surmounted  by  a  pinnacle  and  an  open 
gallery.  Behind  this  gallery,  five  Gothic  windows  rise 
as  if  to  support  the  lovely  rose.     Higher  than  the  rose, 


THE    MOST    CHARMING    CORNER    OF    ECCLESIASTICAL    SENS. 


143 


Sens 


i45 


another  ornamented  gallery  seems  to  connect  the  two 
rounded  tower-like  buttresses  which  support  the  wall, 
and  higher  still,  between  the  buttresses,  a  big  gable 
supports  the  statue  of  Abraham.  The  two  walls  are 
very  similar.  That  of  the  Northern  side  is  perhaps 
the  more  abundantly  decorated ;  and  if  the  whole  plan 
were  realised,  statues  and  many  little  figures  holding 
scrolls  would  be  added  to  the  lavish  traceries  of  the 
niches,  balconies,  and  windows,  the  gables,  and  the 
portals. 

Leaving  the  Cathedral  by  the  Southern  door  of 
Martin  Cambiche,  one  enters  the  most  charming 
corner  of  ecclesiastical  Sens.  In  front  a  broad  path- 
way, bordered  by  the  high,  finely  wrought  grilling 
which  formerly  enclosed  the  choir  of  the  Cathedral, 
leads  to  an  arched  entrance  and  the  small  Renaissance 
door  on  the  Grande  rue.  Behind  rises  the  beautiful 
transept  with  the  grace  of  its  portal  and  the  rich  sym- 
metry of  the  traceries  of  its  rose.  On  either  side,  only 
half  hidden  by  the  tall,  slim  bars,  are  the  trees  and 
plants  of  the  archiepiscopal  gardens  surrounding  the 
Synodal  Hall  on  one  side  and,  on  the  other,  the  Palace 
itself  with  its  window-frames  carved  in  arabesques 
and  foliage. 

The  Synodal  Hall,  which  extends  from  the  South 
side  of  the  Cathedral,  was  built  in  1231;  and,  although 
it  is  a  comparatively  low  building  and  far  later  than 
the  facade,  the  two  structures  are  so  closely  joined  that 
the   harmony   of  the  church's  great  Western  wall  is 


146  The  Early  Gothic 

seriously  disturbed.  Here,  even  more  than  at  Noyon, 
the  juxtaposition  of  Cathedral  and  Hall  diminishes 
the  effectiveness  of  each  and  produces  an  effect  of 
unpleasing  breadth. 

In  itself,  however,  this  Ofncialite  is  dignified  and 
notably  well-planned.  There  is  a  subterranean  story ;  a 
second  story  with  a  Hall  of  Judgment  and  convenient 
and  gruesome  cells;  and  above  this,  the  great  Hall  of 
Synods.  Six  large  and  beautiful  Gothic  windows 
adorn  the  facade.  The  exterior  buttresses,  which  rise 
between  them,  are  plain  and  massive  and  seem  to  act 
as  bases  for  the  niches  and  their  statues  and  the  slender 
pinnacles  which  pierce  the  crenelations  of  the  wall. 
Beneath  the  canopies  of  the  first  and  the  last  buttresses, 
Saint  Louis  and  the  archiepiscopal  builder  kneel  and 
apparently  implore  the  Saints  who  stand  in  the  other 
niches.  The  wall  ends  in  crenelations,  and  is  over- 
weighted by  a  heavy,  rather  picturesque,  and  pointed 
roof  of  shining,  coloured  tiles. 

It  has  been  claimed  by  those  careless  of  dates,  or 
who  desire  to  add  to  the  interest  of  the  Ofncialite, 
that  Abelard  was  condemned  in  its  great  hall.  But 
as  he  was  judged  almost  a  century  before  the  Ofncialite 
was  built,  the  anachronism  is  obvious.  Other  memo- 
ries cluster  about  the  building,  however.  Here,  in  1234, 
Louis  IX  was  married  to  Margaret,  heiress  of  Provence, 
with  the  famous  ring  in  which  the  words  "  God,  France, 
and  Margaret"  were  engraved.  "Beyond  this  ring  I 
have  no  love,"  declared  the  King. 


Sens  147 

Five  years  after  his  marriage,  Louis  had  brought 
from  the  East  the  sacred  Crown  of  Thorns,  and  remem- 
bering the  city  of  his  predilection,  he  came  back  to  it 
in  solemn  state  to  place  this  most  holy  of  relics  in  the 
safe-keeping  of  the  Archbishop  until  the  Saint-Chapelle 
of  Paris  should  be  built  and  made  ready  for  its  reception. 

But  all  the  history  of  Sens,  even  the  pageant  of 
Saint  Louis's  entry,  pales  in  interest  before  the  events 
which  took  place  during  1140.  In  that  year,  a  great 
Council  was  convoked  for  the  "Translation  and  Venera- 
tion of  the  body  of  the  new  Cathedral's  heavenly 
Patron,  Stephen,  the  first  martyr  of  the  Christian 
Church."  The  King  of  France  and  his  court,  the 
magnificent  Counts  of  Nevers  and  of  Champagne, 
every  Archbishop  and  Bishop  in  the  kingdom,  and 
many  lesser  knights  and  priests  hoped  at  this  time 
to  come  to  Sens  and  render  homage  to  the  memory  of 
the  martyred  Saint. 

The  aged  Abelard,  hearing  of  this  great  reunion, 
considered  not  so  much  its  spiritual  significance  as 
the  possible  danger  to  himself.  He  remembered  the 
persistent  enmity  of  Saint  Bernard  of  Norbert,  Arch- 
bishop of  Magdeburg,  and  the  unceasing,  inimical, 
and  far-reaching  propaganda  of  the  good  monks  of 
Clairvaux,  and  his  haughty  spirit  was  still  tortured 
by  the  humiliating  memory  of  the  Council  of  Soissons 
twenty  years  before.  He  therefore  "resolved  to  anti- 
cipate rather  than  to  await  attack." 

At  this  time,   Henrv,   surnamed  "the  Wild  Boar," 


148  The  Early  Gothic 

occupied  the  archiepiscopal  throne  of  Sens.  This 
ungentle  prelate  had  been  drastically  rebuked  by 
Saint  Bernard  for  "hateful  cruelty";  and  when  Abe- 
lard  appealed,  the  Archbishop  was  nothing  loath  to 
permit  his  saintly  tormentor  to  be  confronted — and, 
if  possible,  plagued — by  the  greatest  logician  of  the 
day. 

If  the  prelate  could  have  foreseen  the  first  effects  of 
his  summons,  he  would  have  begun  to  savour  the 
sweets  of  revenge.  Saint  Bernard  was  overcome; 
almost,  it  might  seem,  panic-stricken.  For  a  moment 
he  forgot  the  force  of  his  personal  magnetism  and  the 
strength  of  a  cause  which  he  believed  to  be  righteous. 
He  remembered  only  that  Abelard's  skill  was  said  to 
be  so  diabolically  powerful  that  it  could  persuade  good 
Christians  that  heresy  was  truth.  Perhaps,  too,  in 
this  moment  of  shock,  the  Saint  realised  that  his  was 
the  religion  of  enthusiasm  and  acceptance  rather  than 
of  argumentative  proof.  He  knew  that  he  was  a  true 
reformer,  that  he  inculcated  piety  as  well  as  orthodoxy ; 
but  he  may  also  have  realised  that  his  monasteries 
were  given  to  prayer,  faith,  and  good  works,  and  to 
meditations  on  the  emotional  and  spiritual  lessons  of 
Christianity  rather  than  to  any  profound  research 
into  its  logical  authenticity  or  credibility.  At  first, 
the  Saint  declined  to  meet  the  man  whose  theories 
he  had  so  incessantly  decried.  With  reason  and  with 
warmth  his  disciples  pled,  and  their  Abbot  yielded. 
"I  refused,"  he  explained,  "because  I  was  but  a  child 


Sens  149 

and  Abelard  a  man  of  war  from  his  youth.  When  all 
others  fly  before  his  face,  he  selects  me,  the  least,  for 
single  combat." 

In  temperament,  Abelard  was  indeed  the  antithesis 
of  his  opponent.  Like  Bernard,  he  was  sincere;  like 
Bernard,  he  was  a  seeker  after  righteousness;  but  he 
was  unimaginative,  unexcitable,  cold, — a  dialectician. 
To  his  mind,  statements  beyond  intellectual  proof 
were  suspicious,  undemonstrable  facts  were  un- 
pleasant. Truth,  humanly  reasonable  truth,  was  his 
standard.  Although  he  despised  the  laxity  of  the 
monks  of  Saint-Denis,  he  did  not  stop  at  a  matter  of 
morals;  but,  admitting  the  sanctity  of  their  martyred 
Patron,  he  attacked  them  also  in  a  spirit  of  historic 
criticism  and  questioned  severely  and  boldly,  and  to 
their  unspeakable  horror,  the  Saint's  identity  with 
the  Areopagite,  the  Dionysius  of  Saint  Paul's  Epistle. 

The  Abbot  of  Clair vaux  and  his  opponent  have  been 
well  described.  In  Saint  Bernard  "the  Past  and  the 
Present  concentrated  all  their  powers  and  influences, 
the  sacerdotal,  ceremonial,  inflexibly  dogmatic,  imagi- 
native religion  of  centuries,  the  profound  and  sub- 
missive faith,  the  monastic  austerity,  the  cowering 
superstition.  He  was  the  spiritual  dictator  of  the  age, 
above  Kings,  prelates,  even  above  the  Pope,  he  was  the 
model  of  holiness,  the  worker  of  perpetual  wonders." 
Abelard,  on  the  contrary,  "was  pure  intellect,  .  .  . 
logical  to  the  most  naked  precision,  analytical  to  the 
minutest  subtlety;  even  his  devotion  had  no  warmth; 


150  The  Early  Gothic 

he  ruled  the  mind.  At  best,  he  was  a  wonder, — Ber- 
nard was  the  object  of  admiration,  reverence,  love, 
almost  of  adoration." 

Throughout  the  Christian  wTorld  the  news  of  the 
approaching  clash  between  the  two  men  caused  the 
most  intense  excitement,  and  all  eyes  were  turned 
towards  Sens. 

The  magnificent  religious  ceremony  of  the  Transla- 
tion filled  the  first  day  of  the  Council.  The  second  was 
to  be  devoted  to  the  doctrinal  controversy.  Abelard 
had  arrived  with  a  train  of  pupils;  Bernard  came  with 
a  few  attendant  monks. 

Early  on  the  morning  of  the  second  day,  crowds 
began  to  pour  into  the  square  of  the  Cathedral.  The 
building  itself  was  unfinished,  and  covered  by  a  mere 
temporary  roof;  but,  in  honour  of  Saint  Stephen,  the 
interior  had  been  superbly  decorated  with  tapestries, 
and  on  the  warm  June  day,  the  coolness  of  the  white 
nave  was  calming  and  restful.  The  King,  followed  by 
a  glittering  Court,  entered  the  Cathedral;  the  great, 
heavy-faced  Wild  Boar  of  Sens,  resplendent  in  sacer- 
dotal magnificence,  ascended  the  archiepiscopal  throne. 
Grouped  about  him,  in  scarcely  less  glory  of  vestments, 
were  his  seven  powerful  suffragans,  the  Bishops  of 
Chartres,  Auxerre,  Meaux,  Paris,  Orleans,  Noyon, 
and  Troves.  The  first  letters  of  their  Cathedral  cities 
spelled  the  mystic  word  "Campont,"  which  was 
proudly  written  above  the  Metropolitan  coat  of  arms. 
Other  Bishops,  with  attendant  priests,  sat  in  the  nave; 


Sens 


151 


the  Abbeys  had  sent  brown,  grey,  white,  and  black 
garbed  monks,  and  there  were  many  great  lords  and 
knights.  Saint  Bernard  was  among  friends.  The 
haughty  laymen  who  could  not  tolerate  the  opposition 
of  the  humble  to  the  great,  nor  of  nameless  to  recog- 
nised authority,  found  in  him  their  champion;  of  the 


"THE    WHITE    .    .    .    NAVE." SENS. 

merits  of  the  theological  discussion,  they  were  intel- 
lectually quite  unfit  to  judge.  The  ecclesiastical  lords, 
born  in  the  same  class  or  raised  to  rank  by  churchly 
preferment,  generally  shared  the  same  prejudices;  and 
to  them  religion  very  generally  meant  practical  auth- 
ority and  spiritual  emotion  according  to  sanctioned 
form, — it  was  not  a  subject  for  unbridled  discussions. 


152  The  Early  Gothic 

Saint  Bernard  felt  the  presence  of  his  friends,  but 
he  recognised  also  the  power  of  his  foe.  He  knew 
himself  to  be  an  instrument  of  God,  Whose  power  was 
undeniable ;  yet  God  moves  in  mysterious  ways.  To  the 
Saint  the  Black  Art  was  no  chimera,  and  the  powerful 
Devil  of  the  Middle  Ages  did  not  desert  his  votaries 
while  they  lived.  The  decisive  moment  had,  however, 
arrived;  and,  with  Abelard' s  heretical  treatise  in  his 
hand,  the  troubled  Abbot  ascended  the  steps  of  the 
pulpit.  At  the  same  time  there  was  a  whispering 
among  the  people,  Abelard  himself  had  entered  the 
church,  and,  gazing  about  him,  walked  slowly  down 
the  nave.  Coming  to  the  pulpit,  he  found  himself 
face  to  face  with  his  opponent. 

The  silence  was  breathless.  The  King  and  the  great 
prelates  leaned  forward,  while  the  humble  folk  stood 
and  peered  around  the  heavy  pillars.  A  tournament, 
was  about  to  open,  not  such  an  one  as  they  were 
accustomed  to  see,  but  one  whose  feints  and  parries 
they  could  follow,  although  they  could  not  always 
understand;  and  the  battle  was  between  foes  and  to 
the  death.  Abelard  sat  impassive;  Saint  Bernard, 
remembering  the  vehemence  of  his  past  imprecations, 
was  tense,  contained,  pale. 

The  reading  of  the  questioned  passages  had  scarcely 
begun  when  a  most  strange  event  occurred.  Abelard 
arose.  "I  appeal  to  Rome,"  he  said,  shortly  and  dis- 
tinctly; and  before  another  word  was  pronounced^ 
before   his   amazed   adversary   could   recover   himself, 


Sens  153 

the  old  monk  had  walked  down  the  nave  past  silent 
King  and  gaping  prelate  and  was  out  of  the  Cathedral. 

The  people  of  Sens,  believing  that  he  had  denied  the 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  would  have  attacked  him  bodily ; 
but  his  appeal  had  placed  him  temporarily  under  the 
all-powerful  protection  of  the  Pope,  and,  amid  taunts 
and  curses,  he  escaped  from  the  city. 

Meantime,  the  Council  had  recovered  from  its  mo- 
mentary stupor;  and  Saint  Bernard  was  not  slow  to 
perceive  that,  without  reason  or  effort,  by  the  mere 
dramatic  effect  of  Abelard's  flight,  he  had  triumphed 
absolutely.  The  psychological  cause  of  this  flight  will, 
perhaps,  always  be  a  mystery.  The  Abbot's  sympa- 
thisers claimed  that  Abelard  had  been  stricken  dumb, 
and  Saint  Bernard  himself  immediately  burst  into 
exultant  sarcasm. 

But  this  was  not  the  end.  The  King,  the  nobles, 
and  the  Bishops  of  warlike  race,  who  could  have  ap- 
preciated a  combat,  even  one  of  words,  were  not  so 
interested  in  a  mere  disquisition.  To  this,  however, 
they  were  condemned.  The  victorious  Abbot  com- 
manded that  Abelard's  arguments  should  be  read 
at  length,  and — equally  at  length — he  answered  them. 
The  listening  Bishops  could  fight  or  pray,  but  they 
were  often  unlettered  and  still  oftener  untrained  in 
close  reasoning,  and,  to  them,  much  of  this  allocution 
was  as  incomprehensible  and  as  tiresome  as  a  tilt 
against   a  windmill. 

The  scene,   as  the  day  dragged  slowly  on,  is  well 


154  The  Early  Gothic 

described  by  an  eye-witness.  The  Bishops,  grown 
"wearv,  relieved  their  fatigue  with  wine.  The  wine 
and  the  weariness  brought  on  sleep.  The  drowsy  as- 
sembly sat,  some  leaning  on  their  elbows,  some  with 
cushions  under  their  heads,  some  with  heads  dropping 
on  their  knees.  Still  the  reader  droned  on,  the  assem- 
bly snored.  When  he  came  to  some  thorn-bush  in 
Abelard's  field,  he  exclaimed  to  the  deaf  ears  of 
the  Bishops,  'Damnatis?  Do  you  condemn  this?' 
At  each  pause  they  murmured  sleepily,  '  Damnamus. 
We  condemn,'  till  at  length  some  cut  short  the  word 
and  faintly  breathed  'Namus.'  " 

In  this  manner  was  Abelard  condemned;  and  with 
his  sentence,  the  most  famous  chapter  in  the  history 
of  the  Cathedral  came  to  a  close.  It  is  justly  famous, 
not  only  in  that  history,  but  in  the  annals  of  religious 
thought ;  and  he  who,  standing  in  the  nave  of  the  white 
church,  pictures  in  imagination  the  drama  which  was 
enacted  there,  sees  not  only  an  impressive  scene,  but 
a  step  in  religious  evolution  which  may  well  encourage 
the  pessimists  of  to-day.  For,  whatever  may  be  the 
discrepancy  between  the  priestly  ideal  and  the  priestly 
life,  it  is  inconceivable  that  the  most  enlightened 
ecclesiastics  of  to-day  could  meet  in  open  Council 
and,  drowsing  over  wine-cups,  condemn  that  which  they 
had  scarcely  tried  to  understand,  or  that  the  Christian 
w<  >rld  would  not  now  turn  from  such  a  Council  in  utter 
indifference,  disbelief,  and  disgust. 

Even  after  this  vivid  scene,  the  history  of  Sens  con- 


THE    AISLE    OF        A    CHURCH    WHICH    WAS    A    CATHEDRAL.    — SENLIS. 


155 


Sens  157 

tinues  to  be  interesting.  Clement  V,  always  pictur- 
esque in  his  practical  Machiavellianism,  visited  the 
archdiocese,  and  the  effulgence  of  the  papal  presence 
was  so  costly  that,  when  it  was  withdrawn,  the  impov- 
erished host  declared  that  "he  had  nothing  left"  and 
begged  his  suffragans  to  provide  him  with  food  and  the 
dress  of  a  monk. 

A  century  later,  when  Henry  V,  the  English  warrior, 
lay  before  Sens,  he  found  two  competitors  struggling 
for  the  archiepiscopal  power.  One,  Jean  de  Norrin, 
was  a  loyal  Frenchman;  the  other,  Henri  de  Savoisy, 
had  married  the  English  King  to  Katherine,  the 
daughter  of  his  discomfited  suzerain.  "  In  Troves, 
you  gave  me  a  wife,"  said  the  conqueror  bluffly,  after 
he  had  taken  the  city,  "and  now  I  give  you' one — 
your  Archbishopric . ' ' 

The  last  picturesque  figure  of  the  Cathedral-building 
period  of  Sens  was  Cardinal  Duprat.  It  was  only  after 
the  death  of  his  wife  that  this  noted  and  detested  man 
had  entered  the  priesthood.  He  served  Charles  VIII, 
Louis  XII,  and  Francis  I  assiduously,  became  Chan- 
cellor of  France,  Archbishop,  Cardinal,  and  Legate, 
and  desired  to  become  Pope.  The  King  is  said  to  have 
impoverished  him;  he,  in  turn,  persecuted  Protestants 
with  rigour;  and  when,  at  his  death,  Francis  I  heard 
that  he  had  endowed  a  large  hospital  ward,  the  renal 
master  merely  remarked:  "It  must  be  a  very  spacious 
ward  indeed  if  it  is  intended  to  hold  all  the  poor  and 
afflicted  his  Eminence  has  made." 


158  The  Early  Gothic 

With  the  XIV  century,  Sens  declined.  It  is  true 
that,  for  a  time,  the  rather  interesting,  politically 
minded  Cardinal  Duperron  appeared  upon  the  scene, 
but  the  town's  political  significance  waned,  its  greatest 
men  were  dead,  its  Cathedral  was  left  unfinished. 

As  the  church  was  then,  so,  essentially,  it  appears 
to-day,  after  the  passing  of  four  hundred  years.  Its 
crypt,  that  venerable,  mysterious  place  of  early  Chris- 
tian prayer,  is  either  destroyed  or  unexplored,  and  the 
site  of  its  Cloister  is  marked  only  by  the  pretty  little 
door  of  the  North  wall.  It  has  fine  details, — a  small 
Capitulary  Hall  which  is  now  a  chapel,  the  reredos  of 
Tristan  de  Salazar,  the  two  old  chapels  of  the  transepts, 
'Jean  de  Coignot's"  little  head,  the  magnificent  stained 
glass,  and  the  tombs  and  statues.  But  none  of  these 
details  compare  in  interest  with  the  Flamboyant 
transepts  and  the  transitional  nave. 

The  perspective  is  much  disturbed  by  the  jar- 
ringly incongruous  canopy  of  the  High  Altar,  but 
the  Cathedral-seeker  becomes  accustomed  to  ignor- 
ing such  blatant  details  for  the  greater  whole.  In 
the  nave  of  this  broad,  white  church,  he  sees  that  the 
Romanesque  is  not  so  persistent  as  at  Langres,  that 
the  new  forms  are  more  robust  than  those  of  the  con- 
temporary Cathedral  of  Noyon,  that  the  classic  tradi- 
tion has  lost  its  finest  distinctiveness,  and  that  the 
Gothic  here  makes  an  interesting  essay  and  shows  its 
real  constructive  worth.  Yet  from  any  point  of  view 
it  would  be  an  exaggeration  to  claim  that  Sens  arouses 


Sens 


J59 


great  enthusiasm  or  that  it  compels  awe.  Even  with- 
out "odious  comparison,"  its  facade  has  only  a  solid, 
substantial  interest,  its  transepts  are  charmingly  rather 


IT   IS    A    CHURCH    OF    IMPOSING    GRAVITY.     SENS. 


than  supremely  beautiful,  and  the  nave  and  aisles  form 
an  interior  of  true,  cold  simplicity  that  awakens 
a  sincere  and  reasoned  admiration.  It  is  essentially  a 
church  of  imposing  gravity  rather  than  richness  of 
ornament  or  beauty  of  proportion. 


160  The  Early  Gothic 

Manv  towns  which  lie  within  a  five  or  six 
Senlis.  hours'  drive  of  Paris  are  peacefully  quiet, 

idyllically  rural,  as  if,  instead  of  being 
neighbours  of  the  great  metropolis,  they  were  buried 
in  the  forest-land  of  the  Ardennes  or  the  furthermost 
plains  of  Champagne. 

At  the  end  of  a  long  road,  the  continuation  of  a 
principal  street,  is  a  small  railroad  station  which  bears 
the  name  of  the  town ;  trains  pass  at  a  discreet  distance, 
and  their  whistle  is  scarcely  echoed  in  the  quiet  village. 
Certain  of  these  towns  are  as  old  as  Paris,  and  have  an 
historical  antiquity  sometimes  as  distinguished  as  her 
own. 

But,  to  the  tourist,  they  seem  often  much  alike.  A 
church,  seldom  without  its  good,  or  even  distinguished, 
bit  of  old  architecture,  stands,  with  open  doors,  in  a 
quiet,  dusty  square;  and  all  about  the  church,  and 
between  the  shops  and  the  post-office  and  the  hotels, 
rise  strong  walls,  and  plain,  quiet  houses;  and  on  the 
other  side  of  these  houses,  windows  open  on  peaceful, 
old-fashioned  gardens.  Yet  the  gardens  are  no  more 
quiet  than  the  streets ;  and  sometimes,  even  along  the 
principal  thoroughfare,  roses  peep  above  the  high 
walls,  and  hawthorn  and  lilac  bushes  grow  tall  and 
remind  the  wanderer,  who  walks  wistfully  without, 
that  behind  almost  all  French  walls  there  are  shady 
paths  and  beds  of  sweet-smelling  flowers,  little 
tallies,  and  inviting  chairs,  and  often  a  statue  of  the 
]irotecting  Virgin. 


A     CHATEAU     WITH     VINE-COVERED     WALLS     AND     A     GARDEN     OF     STATELY 
GREEN    CONES    AND    GRASS    PLOTS." SENLIS. 


161 


Senlis  163 

Besides  the  houses  and  shops,  the  church,  and  the 
roses,  each  town  has  its  own  characteristics,  those  na- 
tive peculiarities  which  are  not  so  obvious  to  him  who 
rides  through  in  his  motor,  or  merely  stops  to  lunch 
or  to  sleep  in  the  roomy  hotel;  but  the  real,  heart- 
felt differences  which  make  Noyon  "home"  to  the 
Noyonnais,  and  Senlis  peculiarly  dear  to  the  "  child  "  of 
that  town,  although  both  Noyon  and  Senlis  have 
respectively  about  six  thousand  inhabitants,  a  church 
which  was  once  a  Cathedral,  and  other  traits  which,  in  a 
guide-book,  require  very  similar  words  of  explanation. 

Many  of  these  small,  old  towns  lie  in  and  about  the 
Isle-de-France,  and  among  them  Senlis  is  one  of  the 
most  quaintly  charming.  It  also  possesses  an  unusual 
relic  of  olden  days — a  chateau  with  vine-covered  walls, 
and  a  garden  of  stately  green  cones  and  grass  plots. 
A  shady  promenade  follows  the  line  of  the  ancient 
ramparts;  just  beyond,  in  the  pleasant  fields,  the 
modest  ruins  of  a  Gallo-Roman  Arena  show  that  ten 
thousand  inhabitants  of  an  older  and  a  greater  Senlis 
came  to  the  classic  games;  and,  over  the  pagan  Arena, 
as  over  the  mediaeval  garden  and  above  all  the  litt.e 
Senlis  of  to-day,  rises  "one  of  the  most  beautiful  spires 
in  all  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land,"  the  spire 
of  the  church  which  was  once  a  Cathedral. 

Originally  this  small  Cathedral  was  one  of  the  earliest 
of  Gothic  buildings.  Its  plan  had  the  comparatively 
modest  size  and  dimensions  of  the  old  Romanesque,  in 
its  sculpture  and  in  its  forms  it  bore  the  marks  of  the 


i(>4 


The  Early  Gothic 


period  of  transition,  and  it  had  only  three  aisles,  a  choir, 
and  ambulatory,  and  shallow  apsidal  chapels. 

Piety  and  ambition  led  the  prelates  of  later  centuries 


"originally    this    cathedral   was    one    of    THE    EARLIEST    OF   GOTHIC 
BUILDINGS.  " SENLIS. 


to  build  additions  about  this  strong  and  simple  con- 
struction, and  the  church  of  the  XII  century  is  par- 
tially hidden  by  more  ornamented  walls.  The  nave 
has  chapels  of  a  mature  Gothic  epoch,  with  delicately 


THE     TRANSEPT,     .     .     .     THE      GRACEFUL     AND      FLOWERY     CONCEPTION      OF 
MARTIN     CAM  HIC  I  IE.  " SEN  LIS 


165 


Senlis  167 

carved  piscinas,  and  vaultings  whose  religious  subjects 
are  daintily  fanciful;  the  Lady  Chapel  is  of  the  pseudo- 
pointed  style  of  1 840,  and  the  transepts,  re-built  after 
a  fire,  are  the  graceful  and  flowery  conception  of 
Martin  Cambiche. 

Owing  to  the  small  size  of  the  church,  the  work  which 
this  artist  created  at  Senlis  was  necessarily  less  impos- 
ing than  his  North  and  South  walls  at  Sens  and  at 
Beauvais;  but  it  is  not  only  in  size,  it  is  in  artistic 
power  and  symmetry  that  these  smaller  walls  are  in- 
ferior. The  chisel  of  Cambiche  is  easily  recognisable; 
the  gables,  the  traceries  of  the  roses,  the  little  curves 
and  arches,  the  general  lines,  the  tympana  of  the  por- 
tals, all  betray  the  delicate  and  pronouncedly  individual 
manner  of  the  master;  yet  the  combination  of  these 
luxuriant  designs  has  produced  that  general  effect  of 
pretty  confusion  which  so  often  mars  the  grace  of  the 
Flamboyant. 

The  deeply  religious  feeling  of  earlier  builders,  ex- 
pressed in  many  carefully  conceived  Biblical  scenes,  no 
longer  actuated  the  architect;  if  he  built  to  the  glory 
of  God,  the  motive  seems  obscured  in  myriads  of  beau- 
tiful but  meaningless  arabesques, — symbolism  had  given 
place  to  sestheticism.  One  of  the  portals,  shorn  of  its 
holy  statues  and  surmounted  by  the  letter  F  and  the 
salamander  of  Francis  I,  its  royal  donor,  might  well 
be  the  pretty  door  of  a  chateau  of  the  Renaissance; 
and  the  little  musical  angels  on  the  vaulting  of  a 
chapel   are  more   nearly   akin  to  cupids  than  to  the 


168  The  Early  Gothic 

glorious  cherubim  and  seraphim  of  an  archangelic 
host. 

Nothing  could  be  in  more  striking  contrast  to  these 
rich  and  delicate,  yet  decadent,  symbols  and  pictures 
than  the  virile  and  simple  strength  of  the  earlier  walls ; 
and  the  sharp  contrast  produces  an  appearance  of 
architectural  disparity,  a  lack  of  homogeneity  which 
destroys  much  of  the  effect  of  beauty  that,  in  itself, 
each  style  would  produce. 

These  decidedly  differentiated  styles  are,  as  it  were, 
segregated;  but,  unfortunately,  the  upper  story  of  the 
XII  century  nave  was  burned,  and  the  new  clere- 
story and  vaulting,  which  were  built  in  the  XVI  cen- 
tury, are  too  lofty,  too  slender,  too  developed  in  form, 
to  harmonise  naturally  with  the  lower  and  older  arches. 
These  and  all  the  contemporary  portions  of  the  Cathe- 
dral were  built  after  one  of  the  best  types  of  the  nas- 
cent Gothic,  the  Abbe  Suger's  Abbey  of  Saint-Denis. 

The  short  nave  of  Senlis  is  not  unlike  that  of  Noyon ; 
but  it  lacks  the  purity  of  Calvin's  beautiful  church. 
The  low,  broad  gallery  of  the  triforium  is  crypt-like 
in  massive  and  primitive  heaviness,  and  many  of  its 
capitals  are  broadly  and  simply  carved.  The  side 
aisles  are  also  low  and  shadowy;  the  apsidal  chapels, 
small  and  tentative,  are  virtually  graceful,  shallow 
alcoves;  and,  in  the  ambulatory,  the  firm  and  deep-cut 
capitals  are  still  somewhat  archaically  rich  in  the 
heavy  style  of  the  Byzantine  school.  A  tradition, 
appropriate    only  to    primitive    architectural  periods, 


THE   LOW   BROAD  GALLERY  OF  THE  TRIFORIUM   IN   ITS  MASSIVE   AND   PRIMI- 
TIVE   HEAVINESS.  " SEXLIS. 


169 


Senlis  171 

shows  the  early  date  of  these  monolithic  pillars.  Even 
in  the  days  of  the  Renaissance,  they  were  believed  to 
have  been  made  artificially, — thrown  into  a  mould,  and 
"composed  of  several  materials,  .  .  .  hard  stones, 
.  .  .  bricks,  tiles,  gravel,  lime,  glass,  incense,  mastic, 
ox  blood,  vinegar,  and  .  .  .  other  things,  .  .  .  the 
whole  pulverised  and  ground  together";  and  Francis 
I,  on  hearing  of  these  marvels,  came  from  Paris  to 
Senlis  for  the  express  purpose  of  seeing  them  and  testing 
their  composition. 

Perhaps  no  part  of  the  interior  presents  such  fine, 
strong,  and  harmonious  outlines  as  are  found  in  the 
exterior  views  of  the  apse  and  the  facade.  The  slender 
walls  of  the  choir  with  their  small,  well-formed  flying- 
buttresses,  the  high,  comparatively  pointed  roof-line, 
the  tower  and  spire  beyond,  are  delicately,  firmly  out- 
lined, and  resemble,  in  pleasing  miniature,  the  larger 
forms  of  a  great  Cathedral. 

The  facade,  because  of  its  details,  is  even  more 
interesting  than  the  apse.  Its  central  portal,  built  at 
the  end  of  the  XII  century,  is  one  of  the  earliest  of 
Gothic  doorways;  and,  although  it  has  not  the  elabo- 
rate development  of  later  portals,  like  those  of  Amiens 
and  Reims,  it  is  a  prototype  for  the  best  qualities  of 
the  stvle.  In  all  its  comparative  simplicity  there  is  no 
crudity,  and  there  is  none  of  that  ungainly  awkward- 
ness clothed  in  magnificence  which  characterises  much 
of  the  French  ecclesiastical  sculpture  of  the  XII 
centurv.    Here  the  Gothic  school  has  virtually  emerged 


172  The  Early  Gothic 

from  foreign  influence ;  it  is  still  young,  but  it  is  growing 
sure  of  its  own  genius;  and,  both  in  thought  and  in 
expression,  it  has  grace,  proportion,  power,  and  indi- 
viduality. The  statues  of  Abraham  holding  his  son 
and  listening  to  the  Angel  wTho  has  turned  away  the 
sword,  of  Simeon  with  the  Infant  Jesus,  of  David,  of 
Moses  showing  the  Pascal  Lamb  to  a  suppliant,  and  of 
Saint  John  the  Baptist,  have  real  personality.  The 
Coronation  of  the  Virgin,  which  fills  the  upper  and  larger 
part  of  the  tympanum,  is  considered  a  mediasval  mas- 
terpiece and  one  of  the  oldest  representations  of  this 
subject.  "Some  bas-reliefs,  at  the  end  of  the  XII  cen- 
turv  and  of  the  school  of  the  Isle-de-France,"  writes 
Viollet-le-Duc,  "are  very  strongly  dramatic  in  feeling. 
We  will  cite  among  others  that  one  which,  on  the 
tvmpanum  of  the  Cathedral  of  Senlis,  represents  the 
death  of  the  Virgin,  where  the  execution  is  most  beauti- 
ful. In  this  scene,  at  which  angels  assist,  ...  an 
idea  is  expressed  with  majestic  grandeur.  The  event 
moves  the  celestial  spirits  more  than  the  Apostles,  and 
in  the  emotion  of  the  angels  there  is  a  sentiment  of 
triumph  which  touches  the  heart  and  takes  from  this 
scene  all  appearance  of  an  ordinary  death.  .  .  .  It  is  a 
soul  liberated  from  earthly  bonds,  at  whose  coming 
heaven  rejoices." 

The  lateral  portals  of  the  facade  are  very  curious 
little  doorways.  They  are  partly  Romanesque,  partly 
Gothic ;  no  figures  or  statues  decorate  any  part  of  their 
surface,  and  their  tympana  are  curiously  ornamented 


'ITS  CENTRAL  PORTAL,  BUILT  AT  THE  END  OF  THE  XII  CENTURY,  IS    ONE    OF 
THE    EARLIEST    OF    GOTHIC    DOORWAYS." SENLIS. 


173 


Senlis  175 

with  arches  and  columns  and  miniature  architectural 
forms.  Whether  they  were  painted  is,  perhaps,  not 
certain;  but  the  central  doorway  was  formerly  highly 
coloured,  and  shades  of  blue,  red,  yellow,  and  black  can 
even  now  be  traced  on  some  of  its  carvings. 

Although  it  is  much  smaller,  the  wall  in  which  these 
portals  are  placed  has  something  of  the  grave  and  re- 
ligious severity,  the  stern  nobility,  of  the  facade  of 
Chartres;  but,  perhaps  because  of  its  more  modest 
dimensions,  it  seems  at  once  less  imposing  and  less  bare. 
One  of  the  towers  which  should  rise  above  it  is  a  mere 
trunk,  crowned  by  a  low  peaked  pinnacle.  The  other 
tower,  which  belongs  to  the  XIII  century,  has  been 
completed.  In  charm,  in  lightness,  in  aerial  grace,  in 
distinction  and  loveliness,  it  has  scarcely  been  sur- 
passed; and,  with  its  strong,  slender  base  and  the  deli- 
cate columns  and  pinnacles  and  lancets  of  its  upper 
stages,  it  is  a  masterpiece  of  finished  construction. 
Without  any  particular  resemblance  to  the  spire  of 
Chartres,  it  is  worthy  of  a  place  in  architectural  history 
beside  that  beautiful  tower;  and  it  served  for  many 
years  as  a  model  for  all  the  later  belfries  of  the  Valois 
country  and  in  much  of  the  Soissonais. 

Notre-Dame  of  Senlis  cannot  properly  be  compared 
with  any  of  the  greater  Cathedrals.  It  is  not  to  be 
described  by  any  sonorous  adjective.  All  its  dimen- 
sions are  so  modest  that  their  enumeration  seems  com- 
monplace and  uninteresting.  It  is,  however,  a  small 
building  which   possesses   many   beautiful   parts.     To 


176  The  Early  Gothic 

one  who  cares  only  for  "type,"  in  completion  and 
grandeur,  it  would,  perhaps,  be  merely  pretty  and 
palling;  the  critical  could  find  better  "specimens"  of 
Martin  Cambiche's  work,  of  fine  tribunes,  of  greater 
naves,  and  of  more  lofty  portals; — but  for  those  who 
enter  churches  as  booklovers  finger  an  ancient  parch- 
ment, as  epicures  linger  over  the  flavour  of  an  old  and 
smooth  liqueur,  as  artists  search  for  the  tiny  treasures 
in  a  museum,  Senlis  will  have  a  subtle  charm,  faint 
and  exquisite  as  the  odour  of  the  fine  incense  slowly 
burned  at  its  Benediction. 

It  is  sometimes  difficult  to  recall  that  the 
Iftovon  Cathedral  of  the  Middle  Ages  was  not  only 
a  holy  place  of  prayer,  but  the  centre  of  a 
vast  ecclesiastical  settlement,  that  it  was 
surrounded  by  the  dwelling  places  of  Canons  and  priests, 
by  schools  of  letters  and  of  theology,  by  halls  of 
judicial  administration,  and  that,  in  itself,  it  was  often 
a  place  of  refuge,  a  fortress  in  which  the  inhabitants 
of  the  besieged  city  could  gather  to  make  a  last,  strong 
stand.  The  tendency  of  the  centuries  has  been  to 
relieve  the  Church  of  the  cares  of  temporal  gov- 
ernment and  to  place  the  more  technical  and  tin- 
spiritual  branches  of  knowledge  under  the  charge 
of  national  schools  and  lay  instructors.  With  the 
passing  of  the  mediaeval  customs  and  cares,  the 
great  dependencies  of  the  Cathedral  disappeared, 
the     "Bishop's    City"    became    a    memory,    and    the 


'THE    BEAUTIFUL    CHAMBER    OF    CAPITULAR    SESSIONS,    .    .    .    LARGE, 
RECTANGULAR,     AND    FULL    OF    LIGHT." NOYON. 


177 


Noyon  179 

Cathedral  often  remains  in  solitary  grandeur  to  sug- 
gest the  past. 

To  this  rule  of  fate  the  ancient  and  episcopal  city  of 
Noyon  is  an  interesting  exception.  It  has  not  pre- 
served all  its  reminders  of  mediae valism ;  some  walls, 
gates,  and  portcullises  have  been  destroyed,  but  it  has 
now  no  more  inhabitants  than  in  the  days  of  its  great 
and  heretical  son  Calvin,  it  has  acquired  none  of  the 
modern  haste  or  mannerisms,  and  the  Cathedral  is  still 
surrounded  by  the  Capitulary  Hall,  the  Cloister,  and 
the  close,  the  prisons  of  the  Chapter,  the  protecting 
crenellated  wall,  the  Library,  and  other  ecclesiastical 
dwellings  and  buildings. 

The  Capitulary  Hall  of  Noyon,  which  prolongs  the 
facade  of  the  Cathedral  almost  as  unhappily  as  the 
Offieialite  disturbs  that  of  Saint-Etienne  of  Sens,  was 
built  in  1230.  Its  cellar,  whose  magnificent  vaulting 
is  sustained  by  four  heavy  pillars,  extends  beneath  the 
entire  Hall  and  was  built  to  receive  the  wines  of  the 
Chapter.  The  room  beneath  the  roof  was  the  store- 
house for  the  harvests  and  the  "tithes"  of  grain  which 
belonged  to  the  Canons;  and  between  this  upper  floor 
and  the  cellar  lies  the  beautiful  Chamber  of  Capitular 
Sessions.  This  hall  is  large,  rectangular,  and  full  of 
light.  A  huge  fireplace  opens  at  one  end;  slender 
pillars  divide  the  room  into  two  aisles ;  the  Eastern  and 
Western  windows  are  richly  carved;  the  vaulting 
springs  with  charming  grace,  and  ever}*  proportion  is 
conceived  with  elegance  and  delicacv. 


i  So 


The  Early  Gothic 


The  facade  of  the  building  has  the  appearance  of  a 
one-storied  structure,  with  a  plain  useful  entrance-way, 
buttresses  with  ornamented  pinnacles,  and  five  large 
and  handsome  Gothic  windows. 

On  the  opposite  side,  the  Hall  opens  upon  a  Cloister. 


W  **"*> 


'    IN    THE    DAMP    LITTLE    CLOSE,    A   WEEPING    WILLOW    CASTS   ITS    SHADE, 
AND  WEEDS   AND   SHRUBS  GROW    AS  THEY  WILL." NOYON. 


Here  the  most  poetic  and  melancholy  decay  now 
exists.  Because  two  sides  of  the  walls  needed  resto- 
ration, they  were  destroyed;  and  the  third  side,  which 
escaped  this  fate,  was  then  propped  by  great  ungainly 
buttresses;  in  the  damp  little  close,  a  weeping  willow 
easts  its  shade    across   the  borders  of  an  abandoned 


Novon 


i«i 


well,  and  weeds  and  shrubs  grow  as  they  will.  Six 
large,  partly  broken  bays,  boldly  designed  and  beauti- 
fully decorated,  help  to  support  the  vaulting  of  the 
sole  remaining  wall;  and  each  bay  is  composed  of  two 


"THE    CORBAULT    GATE." NOYON. 

arches  which  are  divided  again  by  little  columns  and 
surmounted  by  three  open  oculi.  Although  this  part 
of  the  Cloister  is  a  storehouse  of  boards,  dust,  broken 
statues,   and  building  stuffs,  it  is  still  beautiful;  one 


182  The  Early  Gothic 

side  is  decorated  with  blind  arcades,  the  Northern  wall 
has  its  little  tower,  its  door,  the  frieze,  and  the  ter- 
minating, protecting  crenellations  of  warlike  times; 
and,  if  a  restoration  could  be  accomplished,  t his  would 
be  one  of  the  most  tyjDical  and  charming  of  claustral 
walks. 

Overlooking  the  small  close  on  one  side  and  near  the 
Corbault  Gate,  there  is  an  austere  building  whose  wall 
is  pierced  with  a  few  barred  openings.  This  is  the 
Tribunal,  the  Hall  of  Justice,  indispensable  to  a  Chapter 
which  exercised  civil  as  well  as  religious  jurisdiction 
in  the  "Bishop's  City."  The  Canons,  in  whose  hands 
lay  the  terrific  power  of  the  "Interdict"  which  could 
throw  whole  communities  into  religious  disorder,  had 
themselves  received  from  Charles  the  Bold  the  privilege 
of  "Immunity."  The  confirmation  of  several  suc- 
ceeding Kings  and  several  Popes  had  firmly  established 
this  privilege  and  rendered  the  reverend  Canons, 
whatever  their  accusations  or  judgments,  personally 
inviolable;  and  so  great  was  their  impunity  and  so 
numerous  their  differences  with  the  Commune,  nobles, 
religious  communities,  and  even  with  their  Bishop, 
that  the  far  distant  papal  authority  had  sometimes  to 
intervene. 

If  the  Canons  were  tenacious,  their  opponents  were 
often  equally  so;  and  one  disputed  question,  which  was 
disciplinary  rather  than  soul  saving,  remained  unan- 
swered for  fifteen  years.  In  1525,  John  dc  Hangest 
had  succeeded  his  uncle  upon  the  throne  of  Noyon, 


Noyon  183 

but,  as  he  wore  a  beard,  the  Chapter  refused  to  allow 
him  to  enter  the  choir.  The  new  prelate,  who  was 
only  twenty-seven  years  old,  was  unwilling  to  part 
with  an  attribute  of  manly  beauty  and  the  deadlock 
became  complete.  It  was  not  until  1540,  at  the  riper 
age  of  forty-two,  that  the  Bishop's  combat  ended  in  his 
victory,  and  a  special  dispensation  from  the  Head  of 
Christendom  allowed  him  at  once  to  wear  the  beard 
and  to  sit  in  the  choir  of  his  Cathedral-church. 

Whatever  their  secret  judgment,  the  Chapter  could 
not,  of  course,  incarcerate  so  august  a  person  as  their 
Bishop;  but  other  individuals  of  less  fortunate  rank 
were  often  subjected  to  persuasions  of  this  rigour,  and 
cells  were  built  above  and  below  the  Chamber  of  Judg- 
ment and  arranged  with  a  just  and  appropriate  sense 
of  punitive  proportion.  The  upper  floor,  with  light 
and  air  and  opportunities  for  work,  was  reserved  for 
lesser  criminals;  the  more  hardened  were  sent  to  the 
dark  cells  of  the  first  floor;  and  the  most  guilty  to  the 
cellar.  Not  one  ray  of  light,  not  a  breath  of  fresh  air 
reached  the  dungeons,  and,  as  no  staircase  led  to  their 
depths,  the  manner  of  reaching  this  place  of  punishment 
must  have  been  indeed  awful,  and  those  who  were 
thrown  there  lived — or  died — in  a  horror  of  darkness 
and  filth. 

At  a  little  distance  from  this  sinister  Hall,  near  the 
North  transept  of  the  Cathedral,  there  is  a  low,  rect- 
angular building  of  wood  and  stone  roofed  with  tiles. 
This  pleasant   edifice  was  the   Capitular   Library.     A 


1 84 


The  Early  Gothic 


modest  flight  of  stairs  leads  to  the  two  rooms  of  the 
second  floor,  where  book  shelves  lined  the  walls,  and 
desks  were  placed  before  each  window  that  the  labori- 
ous Canons  might  see  clearly  to  read  and  study.  The 
lower  floor  was  used  as  a  "study-walk,"  and  its  pillars 
of  old  oak,  ornamented  with  shields  and  coats  of  arms, 


A     LOW,     RECTANGULAR     BUILDING     OF     WOOD     AND     STONE     ROOFED    WITH 
TILES    .     .     .     THE    CAPITULAR    LIBRARY." NOYON. 

and  the  great  beamed  ceiling  form  a  picturesque  spe- 
cimen of  a  minor  construction  of  the  XVI  century. 

On  the  other  and  Southern  side  of  the  Cathedral 
extended  the  episcopal  residence.  Like  the  subter- 
ranean chamber  of  the  Capitular  Building,  its  cellar 
is  a  vaulted  room,  and  the  XIII  century  staircase  leads 
into   a  passageway   curiously   ornamented  with   eight 


Noyon  185 

niches.  The  upper  stories  of  the  Palace  are  by  no 
means  so  well  preserved.  There  are  the  gaping  Gothic 
walls  of  a  charming  little  "Sainte-Chapelle";  and,  in 
the  badly  paved  street  of  the  Eveche,  a  little  tower 
shaped  like  a  pepper-box  and  a  small  facade  with 
carved  windows  are  picturesque  but  meagre  remains 
of  the  architecture  of  the  Renaissance  mingled  with 
the  flowery  Gothic  forms  of  the  XVI  century.  A  sign 
which  reads  "Day  Nursery"  hangs  on  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal door,  and  the  legend  "  Economical  Oven  of  the  City 
of  Noyon  .  .  .  founded  by  public  subscription,  De- 
cember 4,  1890"  prosaically  decorates  the  Renaissance 
wall  of  the  Palace;  but  within,  where  bread  may  now 
be  baked,  was  signed  the  Treaty  of  Noyon  which  ended 
the  first  wars  between  the  young  princes,  Francis  I, 
and  Charles  V;  there  Leo  X,  in  a  more  spiritual 
"enjoyment"  of  the  powers  of  the  Papacy,  made 
known  his  project  for  a  new  Crusade;  there  the  good 
King  Henry  IV,  of  less  orthodox  memory,  rested 
after  the  arduous  capture  of  the  town;  and,  on  his  way 
to  Flanders,  Louis  XIV  also  stopped  there. 

Flanked  on  the  Northern  side  by  the  Cloister  and 
the  Capitular  Halls  and  protected  on  the  South  by  the 
remains  of  the  episcopal  structures,  the  facade  of  the 
Cathedral  is  surrounded  by  a  semicircle  of  eight  houses 
whose  entrance-ways  are  adorned  by  large  pilasters. 
These  are  the  last  vestiges  of  canonical  opulence, 
the  residences  in  which  "the  intransigeant  Revolu- 
tion   surprised    the    grave    Canons. "     The    Treasury 


186  The  MarK*  Gothic 

is  also  another  ecclesiastical  "annex"  closely  united 
to  the  Cathedral.  Its  beautiful,  vaulted,  spiral  s  air- 
case  leads  to  an  upper  chamber,  probably  an  old  chapel, 
which  is  lighted  by  two  Romanesque  windows  and  the 
Cathedral's  only  rose;  and  the  lower  floor,  which  was 
formerly  a  vesting-room,  has  a  pavement  whose  sonority 
reveals  the  presence  of  some  kind  of  subterranean 
chamber  now  closed  and  ignored.  The  inventory  of 
the  Cathedral's  ancient  possessions  would  be  incomplete 
without  the  mention  of  the  cemetery  on  the  North  side 
of  the  church,  whose  walnut -groves  yielded  an  annual 
harvest  which  brought  thirty  sous  to  the  Vestry. 

The  Bishop — and  ruler — of  this  domain  was  usually 
a  strong  and  powerful  personality.  In  the  XI  century 
the  See  had  been  raised  to  a  conte-pairie,  he  was  given 
the  right  to  use  the  royal  fleurs-de-lys,  and  at  the 
King's  coronation,  he  was  the  sixth  among  the  peers 
of  France  and  carried  the  royal  baldric. 

About  Noyon  lived  ambitious  lords,  rivals,  and 
enemies,  and  from  his  Cathedral-tower  the  Bishop 
could  see  Coucy  with  its  majestic  donjon;  Quierzy,  the 
Fontainbleau  of  the  Kings  of  the  First  Races,  where 
Popes  received  hospitality;  Mont-Renaud  where  the 
ruins  of  the  rich  Carthusian  Abbey  of  Ourscamp  now 
stand;  and  the  "golden  valley"  of  the  Oisc  with  its 
woods  and  forests  where,  during  the  League,  the  Duke 
of  Guise,  Charles  of  Lorraine,  and  the  Catholic  party 
lay  when  Henry  IV  besieged  and  took  Noyon  in  1591. 

To  create  and  to  conserve  the  episcopal  power  in  the 


Noyon  187 

midst  of  these  ambitious  feudatories  had  not  been  the 
work  of  humble  weaklings. 

In  the  XI  century,  the  royal  authority  was  evidenced 
bv  a  tower  which  rose  near  the  Cathedral,  but  Bishop 
Hardouin  de  Croy,  who  could  not  endure  this  continual 
reminder  of  suzerainty,  armed  the  citizens  and  razed 
it  to  the  ground.  Less  than  an  hundred  years  later, 
Bishop  Baudry,  wisely  interpreting  the  signs  of  the 
times,  convoked  all  the  knights,  burghers,  and  trades- 
folk, and  presented  them  with  a  charter  which  conferred 
the  election  of  magistrates  upon  the  burghers  and  gave 
to  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  the  right  of  trial  before 
these  lay  judges,  and  entire  liberty  of  goods.  The 
revolution  which  produced  this  change  was  pacific, 
and  through  the  wisdom  of  its  prelate,  Noyon,  with 
Beauvais,  offered  to  other  cities  of  France  the  finest 
model  of  a  communal  constitution.  But  some  suc- 
ceeding Bishops  were  not  content  with  this  stewardship 
of  power,  they  often  declared  and  thought  themselves 
"lords  absolute"  by  virtue  of  their  office,  and  in  1791 
this  fabulous  notion  of  episcopal  glory  had  grown  so 
great  that,  on  his  death-bed,  Monseigneur  de  Clermont  - 
Tonnerre  permitted  himself  to  say,  "God  looks  twice 
before  he  judges  a  man  of  my  quality." 

The  pith  of  such  expressions  explains  much  that 
engendered  the  mad  spirit  of  the  Revolution  and  it  is 
a  pleasure  to  leave  these  incomprehensible  pretensions 
and  to  return  to  the  simpler  subject  of  the  origins  of 
Notre-Dame.     The   good   Saint-Medard,    driven    from 


1 88  The  Early  Gothic 

the  ruins  of  his  city  of  Vermand  by  Attila  and  the  Huns, 
re-established  the  episcopal  seat  in  Noyon,  a  strong- 
hold near  his  birth-place.  Many  famous  historical 
events  took  place  in  the  new  Cathedral-city.  In  768, 
Charlemagne  was  crowned  there  at  the  same  time  that 
his  brother  Carloman  was  crowned  at  Soissons;  and 
there  also,  in  987,  Hugues  Capet  was  acclaimed  King 
of  the  Franks.  But  these  scenes  took  place  in  two  of 
the  four  Cathedrals  which  preceded  the  present  edifice. 

In  a  suit  instituted  in  1385  by  the  people  of  Noyon 
against  the  Bishop,  Chapter,  and  parish  priests  of  the 
city,  the  Canons  claimed  that  the  Cathedral  was  built 
by  Charlemagne  upon  the  foundations  of  the  Chateau 
of  Roland,  but  the  legend  is  prettily  and  fantastically 
romantic.  The  earliest  architectural  trace  which 
the  present  edifice  seems  to  bear  is  that  of  a  church  of 
1 131  which  was  almost  totally  destroyed  by  fire;  a 
fifth  Cathedral  was  begun  a  few  years  later;  and  be- 
tween that  time  and  1230  all  the  more  important  struc- 
ture of  the  Notre-Dame  of  to-day  was  brought  to 
completion. 

As  Baudoin  II,  the  builder  of  this  Cathedral,  was  a 
friend  of  the  Abbe  Suger  of  Saint-Denis,  a  strong  pre- 
sumption of  architectural  affinity  would  be  suggested 
between  Notre-Dame  and  the  Abbey,  and  this  prac- 
tically exists.  Yet  Noyon  possesses  much  originality. 
With  the  conventional  form  of  a  Latin  Cross,  its  tran- 
septs are  unconventionally  rounded,  and,  unlike  many 
transitional  edifices  whose  imperfect  outer  walls  cover 


Noyon  189 

an  interior  of  more  harmonious  unity,  its  exterior 
possesses  architectural  lines  which  are  at  once  austere, 
grave,  and  dignified. 

A  peristyle,  a  stage  of  three  severe  windows  and  a 
gallery,  and  another  of  slender  Romanesque  and 
Gothic  arcades,  form  the  first  stories  of  the  facade. 
Above  them  the  wall  ends  in  a  tiny  central  gable 
and  two  big  towers.  It  would  scarcely  be  possible 
to  devise  a  more  sober  plan,  nor  one  whose  ex- 
treme simplicity  could  be  more  impressively  imagined 
or  proportioned. 

In  general  appearance  the  sturdy  towers  seem  iden- 
tical; they  are  of  almost  the  same  height,  neither  has 
received  the  spire  which  should  probably  have  crowned 
it,  they  have  the  same  general  outlines,  and  the  angles 
of  each  high,  slated  roof  are  ornamented  with  little, 
peaked  turrets.  But  in  detail  they  differ.  On  the 
South  side  the  early  Gothic  of  the  XIII  century  shows 
the  plainness  of  its  strength;  on  the  Northern  side  the 
elegance  of  the  XIV  century  style  is  developed. 

Approached  by  a  broad  flight  of  steps  and  upheld 
by  two  great,  jutting  buttresses,  the  peristyle  is  a 
heavy,  original,  and  not  unpleasing  construction. 
Through  the  wrought-iron  gates  of  its  three  outer 
arches  are  seen  the  vaulted  porch  and  the  doors  which 
lead  to  the  nave.  It  is  said  that  on  each  of  the  tympana 
of  these  XIII  century  portals  one  of  the  three  subjects, 
"  Purgatorv,"  "Hell,"  and  the  "Entrance  of  Souls  into 
Paradise,"    was    formerly    portrayed,  and   that    these 


iyo 


The  Early  Gothic 


large  scenes  were  coloured  and  sculptured  with  all  the 
realism  of  a  Dantesque  conception.  In  other — and 
greater — portals,  all  these  scenes  and  Christ's  Judgment 
and  the  Resurrection  of  the  Dead  are  compressed 
within  the  arch  of  the  tympanum,  and  it  would  have 

been  most  interesting  to  have 
seen  this  comparatively  original 
and  Titanic  portrayal.  But  of 
all  the  figures  which  adorned  the 
portals,  the  monolith  of  the 
central  door  alone  remains, — 
Our  Lady  holding,  with  Byzan- 
tine stiffness,  the  Divine  Child, 
her  feet  resting  upon  a  little 
Temple  whose  vague  symbols 
seem  to  suggest  Sacrifice,  Char- 
it)-,  and  Immortality.  Some 
carvings  which  have  no  relig- 
ious significance,  the  tapestried 
decoration  of  the  bases,  the 
vines  and  conventional  designs 
which  ornament  the  doors,  also 
remain;  but,  by  municipal  order  of  1792,  the  symbolic 
sculptures  were  mutilated  beyond  recognition  and 
even  the  little  scenes  of  the  medallions  were  totally 
erased. 

The  transepts  of  the  Cathedral,  with  their  dignified 
stages  of  Romanesque  and  Gothic  windows,  are  fine 
and  severe  absidal  constructions.     Both  of  their  portals 


THE      LAUGHING        DEMONS 
AND     THE     LOST     SOUL." 
NO  VON. 


Noyon 


191 


open  towards  the  East.  That  of  Saint  Peter  on  the 
Northern  side,  beneath  the  Treasury,  is  a  dee]),  unorna- 
mented  porch;  that  of  the  South  transept  is  a  more 
decorated  conception,  and  the  laughing  demons  and 
lost  soul  which  support  one  side  of  its  outer  arch,  and 
the  anxious  mortal  who  holds 
the  other  side  and  from  his 
vantage  watches  the  poor,  lost 
soul,  are  very  typical  of  the 
mediaeval  mind. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  choir 
and  the  transepts,  two  truncated 
towers  are  just  distinguishable, 
and  the  apse  seems  to  open 
like  a   large   fan. 

Although  greater  in  number 
than  those  of  the  Romanesque, 
the  little  chapels  nestle  about 
the  parent  wall  like  those  of  the 
older  style;  above  the  pointed 
bonnets  of  their  roofs  appears 
another  story  of  windows  surmounted  by  the  huge 
peak  of  the  great  roof.  Two  rows  of  flying  but- 
tresses of  the  most  timid  and  dwarfed  dimensions 
support  the  upper  stories  and  are  adorned  either 
by  small  pinnacles  or  the  funereal-looking  urns 
of  the  pseudo-classic  period.  The  beaut)'  of  the 
structure  does  not  lie,  as  is  usual  in  Gothic  apses,  in 
these  pinnacles  and  the  supporting  buttresses,  but  in 


THE        ANXIOUS         MORTAL 
WATCHES  FROM    HIS   VAN- 
TAGE. " NOYON. 


192 


The  Early  Gothic 


the  symmetrical  development  of  its  three  stories;  and 
this  is  contrary  to  the  rule  of  the  matured  Gothic 
whose  distinctive  absidal  form  is  created  by   flying- 


THE    BEAUTY   OF   THE    STRUCTURE    DOES    NOT    LIE,    AS   IS    USUAL    IN    GOTHIC 
APSES,    IN"    THE    PINNACLES    AND    SUPPORTING    HCTTRESSES,     BUT    IN    THE 
SYMMETRICAL    DEVELOPMENT    OF    ITS    THREE    STORIES." NOYON. 


buttresses  and  their  ornamentation.  Like  the  Ro- 
manesque, the  dignity  of  Noyon  is  created  by  the 
•  lis] k isition  of  the  walls  themselves.  Their  construction 
seems  more  closely  allied  to  the  old  style  than  to  the 


liiltiiijlll 


THE     WHOLE     WALL     CONSISTS     OF     COMPARATIVELY     SHORT     ARCHES, 
SO     CUNNINGLY      DISPOSED      AND     SUPERIMPOSED      THAT      THE 
FIFTH     AND    HIGHEST    STORY    IS    REACHED    WITHOUT 
ANY    SENSE    OF    MONOTONY." NOYON. 


T93 


Noyon  195 

new,  and  if  there  is  any  reminiscence  of  a  greater 
Gothic  form,  it  is  a  very  modest  suggestion  of  the 
towering  apse  of  Bourges. 

The  rounded  transepts  are  deeper  than  those  of 
Soissons,  their  exterior  walls  are  much  plainer,  and 
the  interior  has  received  a  different  development.  The 
fire  of  1293  caused  much  injury  to  this  part  of  the 
Cathedral,  and  the  vaulting  and  some  of  the  capitals 
were  re-made  in  the  XIV  and  XV  centuries;  but  the 
original  style  of  the  Transition  has  not  been  lost. 
Tiers  of  Gothic  windows  succeed  rows  of  Romanesque 
windows,  and  pointed  arcades  follow  rounded  arches, 
and  the  Teutonic  influence  which  the  Church  of  the 
Holy  Apostles  and  Saint  Mary  of  the  Capitol  at  Cologne 
typifies,  the  influence  which  was  felt  at  Tournai,  was 
also  felt  at  Noyon  and  is  still  preserved  in  its  transepts. 
The  low,  blind  arcade  is  succeeded  by  a  series  of  Gothic 
arches  which  should  be  open;  a  tribune  unites  the 
transept  with  the  broad  galleries  of  the  choir  and 
nave,  a  higher,  wider  tribune  is  lighted  by  large  win- 
dows, and  the  clerestory  opens  between  ribs  which  rise 
to  the  vaulting.  The  whole  wall  consists  of  compara- 
tively short  arches,  but  arches  which  are  so  cunningly 
disposed  and  superimposed  that  the  fifth  and  highest 
story  is  finished  without  any  effect  of  monotony. 

As  in  the  transepts,  so  in  the  choir,  the  two  styles 
are  skilfully  commingled ;  nine  rounded  arches  separate 
the  Sanctuary  from  the  ambulatory  and  nine  chapels 
open  on  this  single  walk. 


196 


The  Early  Gothic 


The  nave  has  three  aisles  with  Gothic  arches,  and, 
like  Saint-Nazaire  of  Carcassonne,  its  columns  are 
alternately  isolated  and  grouped.  Iron  cages,  in 
which  prayer-books  were  locked,  formerly  hung  from 
these  pillars;  and  the  Faithful  could  put  their  hands 
through  holes  in  the  cages,  turn  the  pages,  and  read 


"the  broad  gallery  which  is  succeeded  by  a  little  triforium." — 

NO  VOX. 

the  services  of  the  Church.  Unfortunately  other  and 
less  interesting  furniture  has  survived  and  these  curious 
relics  have  disappeared. 

The  style  of  the  main  body  of  the  church  is  very  like 
that  of  the  transepts,  but  its  dispositions  are  different 
and  the  older  form  tends  to  disappear.     The  Gothic 


THE  PROTOTYPE  BOTH  OF  THE  SMALLER  NAVE  OF  SENLIS  AND  THE  GREATER 
NAVE  OF  LAON." NOYON. 

IQ7 


Noyon  199 

becomes  more  slender  and  more  pure,  and  the  classic 
plants  and  animals  of  some  of  the  capitals  give  place 
to  a  careful — if  somewhat  stiff — representation  of  a 
simpler  and  more  natural  vegetation.  Above  the  first 
arches  there  is  a  broad  gallery,  which  is  succeeded  by 
a  little  triforium  and  the  high  windows  of  the  clerestory. 
A  beautiful  Gothic  vaulting  covers  the  nave  and  gives 
it  an  appearance  of  grace  and  height  greater  than  those 
which  mathematically  exist. 

Later  in  date  than  Sens,  which  never  became  a 
popular  type,  Noyon  was  the  prototype  both  of 
the  lesser  nave  of  Senlis  and  the  greater  nave  of 
Laon.  In  the  large  gallery,  although  less  high,  less 
spacious,  the  forms  of  Noyon  are  very  similar  to  those  of 
the  tribune  at  Laon;  but  it  would  be  perhaps  difficult 
to  decide  which  of  the  two  general  conceptions  is  the 
more  truly  artistic,  the  grace  of  Noyon  or  the  majesty 
of  the  Cathedral  of  the  hill-city. 

Much  of  the  architectural  effect  of  the  smaller 
Cathedral  is  utterly  eclipsed  by  the  artistic  irrelevance 
of  the  furniture.  Formerly  the  Altar  was  placed  in 
the  back  of  the  Sanctuary  and,  according  to  ancient 
custom,  it  was  closed  during  the  Mass  from  the  Canon 
until  the  Communion.  Now  the  choir  has  been  ex- 
tended into  the  crossing,  an  incongruous  High  Altar  of 
the  XVIII  century  is  placed  in  the  sight  of  all  the  people, 
and  black  iron  fences,  given  in  1770,  extend  across 
each  arcade  of  the  upper  gallery.  The  most  barbarous 
taste  could  scarcely  have  accomplished  a  more  unhappy 


200  The  Early  Gothic 

result ; — the  beautiful  whiteness  of  the  church  is  marred 
and  the  long  perspective  is  seriously  broken. 

The  Cathedral  has  few  details  which  equal  the  Cham- 
ber of  its  Treasury.  The  burial-vault  of  the  Bishops 
and  Canons  lies  beneath  the  paving  of  the  choir;  and 
below  the  Altar  there  is  a  subterranean  chamber,  called 
the  "columbarium,"  whose  walls  are  symmetrically 
ornamented  with  earthen  vases.  This  curious  con- 
struction, which  was  destined  to  augment  "the  echo" 
or  acoustic  properties  of  the  choir,  is  now  closed. 

A  little  door  in  the  Northern  side-aisle  which  leads 
to  the  Cloister  is  quaintly  old,  and  both  aisles  have 
chapels  "applied,"  as  it  were,  beyond  the  original 
buttresses  with  more  generosity  on  the  part  of  the 
donors  than  respect  for  the  building  itself  or  for  its 
architectural  unity. 

These  chapels,  which  date  from  the  XIII  to  the 
XVII  centuries,  display  many  manners  of  construction. 
The  XVI  century,  which  had  lost  all  power  of  noble 
creativeness,  possessed  the  faculty  of  gracious  adorn- 
ment, and  in  1525,  a  period  which  just  preceded  the 
stuccoed  Renaissance,  the  declining  Gothic  filled  a 
Southern  chapel  with  the  graceful  forms  of  its  florid, 
rambling  imagination.  The  effervescence  is  too  fer- 
vid, the  art  is  utterly  irreligious  and  luxurious,  but 
it  is  charmingly  delicate.  The  reredos  is  covered 
with  dainty  little  statues,  niches,  and  pinnacles, 
and  the  ceiling  has  been  compared  to  that  of  a  fairy 
grotto  adorned  with  fanciful  and  lovely  stalactites. 


Noyon 


20I 


During  the  year  that  this  chapel  was  added  to  the 
Cathedral,  the  most  famous  and  heretical  of  Noyon's 
sons,  then  a  bov  of  fourteen,  went  to  Paris  to  continue 
his  studies  for  the 
priesthood.  Two 
years  before,  this 
child,  Calvin,  had 
received  the  ton- 
sure and  a  chap- 
laincy, and  a  few 
years  later  he  as- 
sumed curacies; 
but  in  1534  he 
came  to  Noyon  to 
resign  his  benefices 
and  to  refuse  or- 
dination,— he  had 
become  the  "Re- 
former." 

Very  little  is 
known  of  the 
earlier  years  and 
the  first  theolog- 
ical studies  of  the  young  seminarist.  The  light 
of  history  is  searching;  but  the  halo  which  admirers 
offer  produces  such  blinding  rays  and  the  pitch  thrown 
by  his  enemies  casts  such  a  shadow  that  the  central 
figure  of  Calvin  himself  is  seen  through  a  mist.  In 
his  lifetime,  aspersions  seem  to  have  gathered  about 


"the  ceiling  has   been   compared  to  that 
of  a  fairy  grotto  adorned  with    fanci- 
ful and  lovely  stalactites.  " noyon. 


202  The  Early  Gothic 

other  members  of  his  honourable  burgher  family.  The 
orthodoxy  of  the  father,  Apostolic  Notary,  Bishop's 
Secretary,  and  Fiscal  Attorney,  has  not  been  attainted; 
but,  through  the  instrumentality  of  a  legatee,  he  and 
a  Canon,  as  executors,  were  excommunicated  because 
they  had  refused  to  make  known  the  accounts  of  an 
estate.  The  elder  Calvin  died  fortified  by  all  the 
Sacraments  of  the  Church,  but  because  the  spiritual 
weapon  of  excommunication  had  been  used  by  an 
ecclesiastical  court  for  the  punishment  of  a  civil 
misdemeanour,  the  excommunicatory  sentence  had  to 
be  lifted  and  a  sum  of  money  was  given  the  Church 
before  his  interment  took  place  in  consecrated  ground. 
Charles  Calvin,  John's  brother,  who  made  the  necessary 
arrangements  for  this  funeral,  is  said  to  have  been  "a 
singular  priest  who  had  repeatedly  been  in  trouble 
with  the  Canons  and  haled  into  the  Bishop's  Court  for 
high  temper  and  a  very  free  use  of  his  fists."  After 
his  father's  death,  he  was  cited  before  the  Chapter  for 
heresy,  and  it  is  said  that  on  his  death-bed  he  refused 
Extreme  Unction,  and,  in  consequence,  was  buried 
beneath  the  gallows-tree. 

The  student  life  of  the  younger  and  great  Calvin 
was  so  severely  strict  that  his  companions  dubbed 
him  "the  Accusative  Case."  Converted  to  the  beliefs 
of  the  Huguenots,  he  composed,  in  1532,  a  thesis  for 
his  friend  Cop  which  was  so  heretical  in  tone  that  his 
superiors  were  filled  with  horror  and  wrath,  and  Calvin 
fled  to  the  South  of  France  to  be  protected  for  a  time 


Noyon  203 

by  Margaret,  Queen  of  Navarre.  Then,  the  moment 
of  renunciation  or  ordination  having  arrived,  he  re- 
turned to  Noyon  to  resign  the  benefices  which  Bish- 
ops had  formerly  conferred  upon  him. 

His  appearance  in  the  Cathedral  on  the  Eve  of  the 
Feast  of  the  Trinity  is  said  to  have  provoked  a  stormy 
scene.  The  vague  description  ends  abruptly,  but  the 
scene  may  be  imagined.  It  was  the  Vigil  of  a  solemn 
Feast,  the  confessionals  were  doubtless  full,  and  in  the 
side-aisles  the  devout  were  praying  and  waiting  their 
turn.  Sacristans  were  probably  decorating  the  Altars, 
and  priests  were  coming  in  and  out.  The  sight  of 
Calvin  disturbed  this  religious  moment.  To  the  truly 
pious  Catholic,  he  was  a  blasphemer ;  to  the  priests  who 
had  taught  him  as  a  child,  he  was  a  renegade;  to  all  the 
orthodox  of  Noyon,  he  was  a  citizen  who  had  tarnished 
the  ecclesiastical  record  of  his  native  town.  The  new 
religion  had  its  adherents  and  probably  Calvin  was 
accompanied  to  the  hostile  "Temple  of  Baal"  by  some 
of  his  sympathisers.  Hot  words,  scorn  answered  by 
scorn,  provoked  the  "stormy  scene,"  and  Calvin  was 
arrested  and  confined  for  a  time  in  the  light  and  airy 
upper  story  of  the  Capitular  Hall  of  Justice. 

Very  little  is  known  of  this  episode.  Protestants, 
foolishly  overlooking  the  essentially  theological  nature 
of  Calvin's  "misdemeanour,"  have  considered  this  im- 
prisonment as  a  possible  stigma  and  have  endeavoured 
to  minimise  its  duration  or  to  ignore  it  entirely.  Bolsee, 
a  Catholic,  has  with  equally  foolish  fervour  maliciously 


204  The  Early  Gothic 

perverted  its  causes.  It  is  now  accepted  that  the 
austere  Reformer  was  twice  arrested  because  of  his 
militant  beliefs;  but,  in  spite  of  the  consternation  and 
horror  which  he  caused  the  orthodox,  his  punishment 
was  neither  long  nor  rigorous.  He  himself  seems  to 
have  become  as  discouraged  by  the  continual  dissen- 
sions between  his  co-religionists  of  Noyon  as  by  the 
hostility  of  the  Church,  and,  returning  in  May,  he  left 
in  vSeptember  for  a  life-long  exile. 

After  this  period,  the  architectural  history  of  Noyon 
is  one  of  repeated  dangers.  When  the  Gothic  Altar 
was  replaced  by  the  inartistic  marbles  and  gildings  of 
the  XVIII  century,  eight  Canons  protested  in  vain. 
Because  Michael  Angelo  had  put  the  High  Altar  of 
Saint  Peter's  in  the  transept,  some  educated  and 
travelled  priests  of  a  later  day  tore  down  the  old  rood- 
screen  of  Notre-Dame,  changed  the  disposition  of  the 
choir,  and,  in  pursuance  of  this  destructive  classicisa- 
tion  of  the  Gothic,  walled  in  the  lower  windows  of  the 
transept  and  transformed  them  into  niches.  The 
Revolution,  scarcely  more  stupid,  but  less  religious, 
converted  the  side-aisles  into  a  stable  for  eight  hundred 
horses,  the  transepts  into  store-houses,  and  the  choir 
into  a  dance-hall.  Yet,  in  spite  of  these  blasphemous 
and  absurd  changes,  and  the  fires,  invasions,  pillages, 
sieges,  and  storms  of  other  times  which  added 
their  disasters,  the  Cathedral  has  survived  to  these 
better  days  of  care  and  restoration  and  is  not 
essentially     unlike    the    church    in    which,    as    a    de- 


ARCHITECTURAL    CONSERVATISM     AND    .     .     .     ARCHAIC     ORIGINALITY    WERE 
DISPLAYED    HERE." NOYON. 


205 


Laon  207 

voted  child,  the  great  Arch-heretic  of  Noyon  was  wont 
to  pray. 

In  the  history  of  Gothic  architecture,  this  Cathedral 
has  an  important  place  as  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
and  valuable  works  of  the  period.  Its  exterior  is  so 
unlike  that  of  any  of  the  other  famous  Cathedrals  as 
to  be  utterly  incomparable.  The  greatest  architec- 
tural conservatism  and  perhaps  also  the  greatest  archaic 
originality  were  displayed  here,  and,  in  looking  at 
these  simple,  dignified  walls,  one  seems  to  detect  their 
analogy  with  the  temper  of  mind  of  the  son  who  turned 
away  from  them.  The  interior  belongs  to  the  group 
of  broadly  galleried  Cathedrals,  and  although  it  is  not 
so  large  as  either  Paris  or  Laon,  it  is  peculiarly  well- 
proportioned.  The  outer  walls  have  strength  and  a 
dignified  austerity,  the  qualities  of  a  Mantegna;  the 
interior  is  Raphaelesque,  full  of  beautiful  simplicity, 
satisfying  grace,  repose,  and  classic  calm. 

If  the  thoughtful  traveller  of  to-day  won- 
ders to   find    so   magnificently  large  and 
Aacm*        stately  a  Cathedral  in  a  hill-town  of  barely 
four-thousand     inhabitants,    the    student 
of  history  is  even  more   surprised  to   find  that  the 
Bishop   of    this   small,   isolated    city   was,   by    virtue 
of  his  office,  Duke  of  the  Realm,  one  among  the  six 
ecclesiastical  lords  of  the  great  College  of  Peers,  and 
the  bearer  of  the  Holy  Oil  at  the  coronation  of  the 
Kings  of  France.     But  Laon  is  an  ancient  town  and 


2o8  The  Early  Gothic 

the  seat  of  an  ancient  See.  Even  in  the  V  century,  it 
was  an  important  place  of  learning.  Saint-Remi  was 
sent  by  his  parents  to  its  school  and,  in  the  days  of  his 
maturity,  the  Saint  endowed  this  school  with  part  of 
the  wealth  which  he  had  received  from  Clovis.  Not 
onlv  had  the  city  of  the  churchly  Dukes  a  venerable 
renown,  its  lords,  far  from  being  the  vassals  of  a  powerful 
suzerain,  long  owed  allegiance  to  small  Kings,  "whose 
dominions  did  not  extend  beyond  four  or  five  modern 
departments  and  whose  power  was  so  limited  that 
the  road  between  Paris  and  Orleans,  their  two  chief 
cities,  was  commanded  by  the  castle  of  a  rebellious 
noble." 

Whether  from  an  impunity  which  was  encouraged 
by  the  weakness  of  their  overlords,  or  from  the  isola- 
tion of  their  hill-top  which  made  chastisement  difficult, 
the  See  which  was  formed  under  the  holy  care  of  Saint- 
Remi  and  his  nephew  Genebaud,  its  first  Bishop,  grew 
to  a  strange  Medievalism ;  turbulence  seems  to  be 
the  word  which  best  describes  the  condition  both  of 
the  Church  and  the  State ;  and,  generally  speaking,  the 
Bishops  were  unedifying  Fathers  in  God  and  Laon  a 
strange  example  of  communal  government. 

In  mi,  during  an  absence  of  Bishop  Gaudry,  the 
citizens  induced  the  Chapter  to  grant  them  a  Charter 
and  Louis  the  Fat  to  confirm  it.  Later  the  prelate 
was  equally  successful  in  persuading  the  King  to 
rescind  this  privilege;  and,  returning  to  his  episcopal 
city,  he  displayed  to  the  dismayed  townsmen  the  docu- 


Laon  209 

ment  of  revocation.  If  he  had  been  content  with  the 
return  of  his  power,  Bishop  Gaudry  might  have  enjoyed 
it  for  some  time,  but  he  began  to  press  the  people  for 
the  sum  of  money  which  he  had  been  obliged  to  give 
to  the  King ;  in  a  word,  he  attempted  to  make  them 
pay  the  price  of  their  own  discomfiture. 

An  insurrection  soon  broke  out,  and,  wounding  and 
killing  as  they  fought  their  way  through  the  streets, 
the  people  of  Laon  reached  the  episcopal  Palace  and 
battered  down  its  gates. 

High  and  low  they  searched  for  their  oppressor. 
They  tore  through  his  Cloister,  his  chapel,  his  halls, 
and  his  stately  suites  of  rooms,  but  they  hunted 
fruitlessly. 

At  length,  some  of  them  went  to  the  wine  cellar  and 
began  to  refresh  themselves;  and  one  rioter,  who  had 
selected  a  heavy,  promising  cask,  tried  to  draw  wine 
from  it  and  discovered  his  cowering  Bishop. 

Yelling  in  triumph,  he  was  quickly  joined  by  others; 
— the  prelate  was  murdered  with  unspeakable  bru- 
talities, his  body  was  thrown  into  the  street;  and  in 
fitting  climax  to  this  frenzied  scene,  a  fire  broke  out, 
and  thirteen  churches  and  a  large  part  of  the  city  were 
reduced  to  ashes. 

As  the  flames  from  the  burning  town  on  the  hill-top 
lighted  the  whole  country  of  the  Laonnais,  many  of 
the  guilty  conspirators  decided  to  retire  to  a  neigh- 
bouring castle;  and  the  peasants  of  the  surrounding 
plains  then  climbed  the  mountain,  pillaged  the  smoking 


210  The  Early  Gothic 

ruins,  and  gave  themselves,  in  turn,  to  "the  worst 
excesses." 

Although  severely  chastised  by  the  King,  who  in  1 1 13 
captured  and  hung  many  fugitives,  the  next  genera- 
tion of  Laonnais  again  made  war  on  their  Bishop;  and 
we  also  read  of  a  Monseigneur  Roger  de  Rocroy  who, 
in  1 1 77,  "marched  against  his  vassals  and  cut  them 
to  pieces."  The  one  side,  whose  bold  spirit  seems 
to  have  been  irrepressible,  was  continually  clamouring 
for  liberty;  the  governing  force,  whether  from  love 
of  power  or  mistrust  of  the  people,  tried  as  continually 
to  regain  and  increase  its  privileges;  and  during  the 
great  Cathedral-building  age  there  seems  to  have  been 
no  end  to  the  giving  and  revoking  of  the  Charters  of 
Laon. 

The  uprising  of  11 13  was  responsible  not  only  for 
the  murder  of  a  Bishop,  it  burned  an  early  Cathedral 
and  left  the  new  Bishop  without  a  church;  and,  by  a 
strange  destiny,  the  grave  and  beautiful  edifice  of 
the  present  Notre-Dame  of  Laon  was  built  during 
the  most  stormy  periods  of  the  city's  communal 
struggles. 

Not  only  the  dignity  of  the  priestly  Duke,  that  also 
of  the  Chapter  demanded  a  great  Cathedral-building,  for 
the  Chapter  of  Laon  had  much  local  authority  and  pres- 
tige. In  the  XII  century,  it  had  become  a  large  body 
of  eighty  members,  presided  over  by  a  powerful  Dean; 
and  as,  during  the  course  of  the  Middle  Ages,  it  gave 
Urban  IV,  Nicolas  III,  and  Clement  VI  to  the  papal 


THE    CATHEDRAL    OF    A    SMALL    HILL-TOWN.     LAON 


Laon 


213 


throne,    it   possessed    Catholic    as    well    as   provincial 
distinction. 

During  the  early  days  of  880,  King  Eudes  issued  a 
Charter  which  forbade  "  Kings,  Queens,  the  mighty, 
and  all  the  members  of  the  Judiciary  from  penetrating 
into  the  Cloister  of  the  Canons  of  Laon."  Infractions 
of  this  specific  law  were  not  left  unpunished,  and,  in 
a  Bull  of  1384,  Clement  VII  gave  to  the  Chapter  the 
terrible  power  of  excommunicating  all  ecclesiastical 
or  secular  judges  who  should  try  any  criminal  belonging 
to  the  canonical  jurisdiction,  whereupon  each  year  the 
Canons  gratefully  offered  a  golden  florin  to  the  Holy 
See. 

They  governed  the  large  community  whose  every 
member  owed  daily  service  to  God  in  the  Cathedral; 
their  lord  was  the  Bishop,  their  head  was  the  Dean,  and 
beneath  them  were  fifty-six  chaplains,  priests,  and 
many  minor  clerics  and  "helpers,"  the  "custodians" 
who  guarded  the  church,  and  the  choir-boys  who  lived 
together  and  went  to  school  nearby. 

For  the  housing  of  this  large  body  of  men  and  the 
proper  fulfilment  of  their  vocations,  many  buildings 
were  necessary;  and  the  episcopal  city  contained  the 
more  or  less  claustral  dwellings  of  its  Canons,  their 
Capitular  Hall,  the  Singing  School,  the  Bishop's 
Palace,  and,  finally,  the  place  towards  which  all  priestly 
steps  were  naturally  turned, — the  Cathedral. 

Episocpal  Laon  was,  in  reality,  a  city  within  a  city; 
and  it  was  called  "the  Quarter  of  the  Cloister."     In 


214  The  Early  Gothic 

spite  of  this  peaceful  name,  it  was  a  fortress,  it  had 
only  four  entrance-ways,  and  these  were  guarded  by 
heavy  gates  which  the  Chapter  alone  had  the  right  and 
"the  discretion"  to  open  and  close. 

Within  these  gates  the  Church  reigned  supreme. 

As  the  Middle  Ages  waned,  the  passing  of  the  centu- 
ries brought  to  the  Bishop  and  the  Chapter  a  gradual 
but  steady  decrease  of  authority.  With  the  decline  of 
feudalism  and  of  the  timorous  respect  which  its  iron 
force  engendered,  their  temporal  organisation,  which 
was  largely  formed  after  this  mediaeval  pattern  re- 
ceived its  death-blow.  The  coming  of  Protestanism 
also  brought  both  material  and  spiritual  defections,  and 
it  is  said  that  in  1682  there  were  so  many  adherents  of 
the  new  cult  in  Laon  that  they  wished  to  build  an 
Institute  opposite  that  which  the  Chapter  had  planned. 

Strange  customs  and  reprisals  began.  The  Memoirs 
of  Antoine  Richart  tell  that  at  night  pilgrims,  emis- 
saries of  the  Calvinists  of  Geneva,  passed  along  the 
streets  and  threw  "little  books  very  nicely  bound  and 
adorned  with  beautiful  letters  of  printing,  which  were 
the  Psalms  of  David  in  French  and  in  Latin,"  into 
the  cellar  windows; — whereupon  a  law  was  passed 
which  forced  the  inhabitants  to  close  all  lower  air-holes 
and  openings,  and  one  curious  method  of  propaganda 
was  suppressed.  Other  books  printed  in  Geneva  found 
a  ready  sale,  "The  Abolition  of  the  Mass"  and  "The 
Pope's  Saucepan  Overturned"  made  many  scoffers, 
and    Richart    quaintly  recorded    that    "still    further 


Laon  215 

in  these  times  came  from  Geneva  to  this  town  .  .  . 
one  who  had  married  the  daughter  of  a  citizen,  and 
who,  with  his  wife,  walked  the  streets  after  the  fashion 
of  the  pilgrims  of  Saint  James,  and  in  a  loud  voice  sang 
the  Psalms  of  David." 

By  these  persistent  and  often  curious  methods  of 
conversion,  so  many  were  turned  from  the  older  Faith 
that,  on  one  Corpus  Christi  Day,  the  Catholics  who 
walked  in  the  procession  felt  it  necessary  to  protect 
themselves  by  carrying  arms,  and  all  Laon  was  shaken 
by  the  shocking  apostasy  of  the  Reverend  Commen- 
datory Abbot  of  Saint  John  who  resigned  his  benefice 
and  openly  professed  Calvinism. 

The  early  part  of  the  next  century  brought  official 
protection  and  restoration  to  the  Church ;  •  but  the 
Revolution  caused,  in  Laon  as  in  other  cities,  an 
upheaval  which  was  temporarily  even  more  appalling 
than  the  heresies  of  Calvin.  As  was  usual,  the  Cathe- 
dral became  secularised.  It  was  dedicated  to  the 
Goddess  of  Reason,  and,  on  the  Feast-day  of  the  deity, 
a  hill  of  flowers,  moss,  and  leaves  was  built  beneath 
the  great  lantern;  on  the  top  stood  a  small  Temple  of 
Philosophy ;  in  the  middle,  the  flaming  "  torch  of  Truth  " 
was  planted;  and  a  young  girl  dressed  in  scant,  classic 
robes,  impersonating  the  Goddess  of  Reason,  received 
the  homage  of  the  civil  authorities  and  the  crowd. 
Crowned  with  a  Phrygian  cap,  she  was  borne  in  pro- 
cession by  four  citizens;  and  in  the  evening,  after  a 
banquet  to  which  each  one,  in  true  republican  fashion, 


216  The  Early  Gothic 

had  brought  his  own  viands,  the  nave  of  the  Cathedral 
was  fantastically  lighted  by  torches  and  the  night  ended 
in  wild  songs  and  dancing. 

Later,  during  the  "Terror"  of  1793,  Notre-Dame 
was  dedicated  to  another  Personality,  vague  and  illy 
defined  in  the  French  mind  of  that  day,  and  rather 
bombastically  called  the  "Supreme  Being."  At  this 
time,  all  the  statues  of  the  Saints  were  torn  from  their 
bases  and  broken ;  the  choir-stalls,  carved  with  curious 
mediaeval  scenes  of  the  exorcism  of  a  young  woman 
possessed  by  a  devil,  fed  the  bonfire  in  the  Cathedral- 
square;  two  spires  were  pulled  down;  and,  to  further 
some  occult  interest  of  the  Revolution,  it  was  considered 
that  the  towers  also  should  be  destroyed.  But  at  this 
point  the  municipality  hesitated, — it  could  not  deter- 
mine the  exact  meaning  of  the  word  "tower."  Did 
it  signify  spire  and  was  the  work  therefore  completed, 
or  did  it  betoken  spire  and  base  as  well  ? 

"  The  question  was  momentous,"  writes  Fleury,  " and 
the  word  was  deserving  of  a  definition."  As  these 
wise  Dogberries  of  the  Council  "could  arrive  at  no 
conclusion,  they  demanded  an  interpretation  from 
the  Departmental  Administration ;  but  its  Directors  did 
not  consider  themselves  sufficiently  learned  linguisti- 
cally to  answer  the  question,  and  called  to  their  aid  the 
especial  light  of  the  Chief  Engineer.  "  Happily  for  the 
Cathedral,  this  luminary,  M.  Becquey  de  Beaupr£,  was 
a  man  of  culture;  and  "  without  compromising  himself " 
—a  difficult  feat  in  those  davs — saved  the  towers  bv 


Laon  2 i 7 

declaring  that  it  "seemed  to  him  as  if  their  demolition 
might  menace  the  safety  of  the  whole  building,  and 
that  he  would  have  to  study  long  and  seriously  before 
he  could  give  an  expert  opinion." 

The  Cathedral  was  saved;  and,  finally,  in  1802,  it 
was  restored  to  its  holy  purpose.  Priests  gathered 
on  the  parvise,  the  Te  Deum  was  about  to  be  sung, 
salvos  of  artillery  were  booming,  the  portals  were  again 
open, — it  was  a  day  of  joy ;  but  the  joy  was  not  unmixed 
with  sadness,  for,  since  the  Revolution,  many  brother 
priests  had  died  in  exile,  and  by  the  Napoleonic 
Concordat  the  Holy  Father  had  sanctioned  the 
suppression  of   Laon's  ancient   See. 

These  vicissitudes  left  the  Cathedral  sadly,  but  not 
radically,  mutilated;  and  in  the  later,  unhappy  year 
of  1870,  the  explosion  of  a  powder  magazine  crushed 
the  huge  and  important  windows  of  the  choir.  For- 
tunately a  gentleman  carefully  picked  up  and  pre- 
served the  broken  pieces  of  stained-glass  and  made 
a  perfect  restoration  possible,  and  the  statues  and 
other  mutilated  parts  of  the  facade  were  re-made  by 
Boeswillwald. 

Political  and  religious  upheavals,  as  well  as  evolu- 
tion in  architectural  taste,  in  ideas  of  hygienic  building, 
and  in  methods  of  strategic  construction,  have  made 
great  changes  in  the  aspect  of  Laon.  Its  mediaeval 
walls  have  disappeared  or  have  lost  their  warlike 
appearance,  a  few  gates  remain  as  picturesque  old 
archways; — the   town   is   pleasant  and  old-fashioned, 


218 


The  Early  Gothic 


and  its  magnificent  isolation  on  a  high,  steep  hill  makes 
it  one  of  the  most  characteristic  of  the  hill-top  cities  of 
France. 


"ADORNED    BY    HEAVY,    EARLY    GOTHIC    PILLARS." LAON. 

Those  buildings  of  episcopal  Laon  which  still  stand 
suggest    strongly,    even    if   imperfectly,   the    imposing 


Laon  219 

temporal  greatness  of  the  mediaeval  Church.  With 
its  large,  hall-like  rooms,  the  bare  and  stately  Court 
between  it  and  the  Cathedral,  and  the  walk  adorned  by 


"  A    LOW    WALL  EXTENDS   ALONG   A   STREET   FLANKING    THE    SOUTHERN    SIDE 
OF    THE    CATHEDRAL." LAON. 

heavy  early  Gothic  pillars,  the  old  Palace  attests  the 
dignity  of  departed  ducal  prelates;  and,  on  the  other 


220  The  Early  Gothic 

side  of  the  church,  other  buildings  show  less  completely 
the  ancient  and  semi-independent  power  of  the  Chapter. 

A  low  wall  extends  along  a  street  flanking  the 
Southern  side.  It  is  supported  by  small,  straight 
buttresses,  and  a  frieze  decorates  its  upper  part.  At 
one  end  of  this  wall,  beneath  a  dais,  is  a  beautiful,  worn 
statue  of  an  angel  with  outstretched  wings,  who  holds 
in  his  hands  a  modern  sun-dial.  The  old  figure  is 
interesting  both  in  its  resemblance  to  that  of  the  tower 
of  Chartres  and  because  it  is  an  example  of  a  popular 
type  of  clock  which  used  to  exist  along  the  mediaeval 
highroads.  In  1267,  Louis  IX  commanded  that  these 
clocks  should  be  removed  "  to  more  convenient  places," 
and  they  gradually  became  unpopular;  but  as  a  form 
of  Gothic  sculpture  they  are  historic,  and  they  show 
much  graceful  and  symbolic  idealism. 

The  sturdy  wall  which  supports  the  angel  is  pierced 
by  little  windows  and  doors  which  seem  to  belong  to 
modest  dwellings,  but  it  is  through  these  doors  that 
one  enters  upon  the  ruins  of  the  Canons'  Cloister. 

Owing  to  the  narrowness  of  the  space  which  was 
allotted  to  the  architect,  this  Cloister  was  originally 
a  parallelogram  whose  length  was  seven  times  greater 
than  its  width.  "  It  was, "  writes  Viollet-le-Duc 
"practically  a  gallery,  composed  of  seven  bays  which 
faced  the  Cathedral,  and  was  united  to  it  by  only  one 
bay."  The  walk  of  the  interior  court  was  covered  by  a 
simple  vaulting  with  curious  keys,  supported  on  one 
side   by  a   series  of   early  Gothic   arcades   and   small 


Laon  221 

columns.  The  capitals  were  decorated  with  upright 
leaves  and  fantastic  animals,  and  each  twin  arch  was 
surmounted  by  a  rose  of  unusual  form. 

Within  the  claustral  court  stood  the  Capitular  Hall,  a 
beautiful  Gothic  room,  now  the  Baptismal  Chapel, 
which  opens  into  the  Cloister,  the  Cathedral,  and  also 
into  a  narrow  passage-way  that  leads  to  the  South 
transept. 

Of  all  these  structures,  so  precious  both  from  the 
archasological  and  the  architectural  point  of  view,  the 
Baptismal  Chapel  is  the  only  one  which  is  now  in  a 
satisfying  state  of  repair.  That  part  of  the  Cloister 
which  extended  below  the  transept  has  practically 
disappeared,  and  priests  now  live  in  the  portions  which 
remain.  Their  tiny  gardens,  formed  of  bits  of  the 
close,  are  quaint ;  but  the  walks,  sometimes  made  into 
little  storehouses,  are  in  a  state  of  melancholy  dilapi- 
dation, and  the  traveller  feels  regret  for  another  real, 
if  not  yet  irreparable,  loss  of  early  Gothic  art. 

But  the  Cloister  and  the  fine  Capitular  Hall,  the 
Canons'  houses  and  the  Bishop's  Palace,  and  indeed 
the  whole  episcopal  city  of  Laon  formed,  as  it  were,  but 
a  setting,  a  line  of  protective  ramparts,  to  guard  the 
great  and  complicated  Cathedral  which  rose  in  their 
midst,  with  its  sacristies  and  cells,  its  large  and  small 
chapels,  its  high  walls,  and  slender,  soaring  towers. 

In  1 112,  a  "new"  Cathedral  having  been  destroyed, 
the  Chapter  sent  nine  Canons  and  six  laymen  to  carry 
the  Holy  Relics  from  city  to  city  and  ask  alms  and  gifts 


222  The  Early  Gothic 

for  a  new  church.  These  pious  pilgrims  first  spent 
several  months  between  Issoudun  and  Tours,  Angers 
and  Chartres;  in  1113,  their  journey  was  extended 
through  the  North  of  France  and  even  into  Norman 
England ;  and  it  is  said  that,  during  this  long  absence, 
the  people  of  La  on,  waiting  and  anxious  to  aid,  went 
themselves  to  get  stones  from  the  quarries,  and  some 
carried  blocks  with  great  effort  to  the  summit  of  the 
mountain. 

Whether  these  stones  form  part  of  the  present  edifice, 
whether  any  of  the  moneys  gathered  during  these  pil- 
grimages were  used  in  the  construction  of  the  present 
Cathedral,  are  open  questions.  Quicherat  says  that 
Notre-Dame  of  Laon  was  begun  in  n 55  and  chiefly 
built  within  twenty  years;  another  authority  writes 
that  "the  original  plan  was  consummated  in  the  first 
thirty  years  of  the  XIII  century";  certainly  another 
dedication  took  place  between  1236  and  1257. 

The  style  of  the  edifice  would  indicate  that  the  nave, 
the  principal  portals,  and  the  lower  stories  of  the 
towers  might  have  been  executed  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  XII  century,  the  square  apse,  an  hundred  years 
later;  the  chapels,  architecturally  inopportune,  were 
added  in  the  XIV  century,  and,  in  1572,  a  num- 
ber of  chapel  gates,  still  more  inharmonious,  were 
commenced. 

These  general  dates  denote  broadly  and  dryly  a 
series  of  long  architectural  periods  to  which,  together 
with  many  other  Cathedrals,  Laon  belongs.     Accurate, 


THE   TEX 


BAYS  OF  THE  CHOIR  STRETCH   IN  A   LONG   PERSPECTIVE 
LAON. 


223 


Laon  225 

specific  dates,  which  would  form  suggestive  compari- 
sons, are  lacking;  but  to  the  leisurely  and  untechnical 
traveller,  hairsplitting  speculations  concerning  this  year 
or  that  are  less  inspiring  than  the  analogies  and  dif- 
ferences of  style  which  he  may  be  able  to  perceive  in 
the  actual  Cathedral-buildings  themselves.  The  choir 
of  Notre-Dame  of  Paris,  which  was  commenced  in  11 60, 
presents  several  similarities  with  that  of  Laon;  and, 
whatever  the  actual  dates  of  the  hill-top  church  may 
be,  it  is  intellectually  of  the  special  school  of  Noyon,  of 
Paris,  and  of  the  Southern  transept  of  Soissons,  and  it 
has  a  plan  of  imposing  magnificence.  Beyond  the 
twelve  bays  of  the  nave,  the  ten  similar  bays  of  the 
choir  stretch  in  a  long  perspective  of  more  than  four 
hundred  feet ;  great  galleries  extend  above  the  low  aisles 
and  are  surmounted  by  a  conventional,  narrow  triforium 
and  the  well-proportioned  windows  of  the  clerestorv ;  the 
central  vaulting  has  a  broad  sweep  of  line  and  an  appro- 
priate strength  of  curve,  and  the  large  straight  wall 
which  closes  the  Eastern  end  of  this  spacious  hall  is 
almost  filled  by  the  handsome  glass  of  its  three  long 
lancets  and  its  rose. 

In  the  early  years  of  the  XIII  century,  presumably 
in  1205,  Jean  de  Charmizy  gave  a  quarry  to  the  Church, 
and  the  stone  of  Charmizy  is  found  in  large  quantities 
only  in  the  Eastern  portion  of  Notre-Dame.  This 
apse  was  therefore  constructed  after  the  opening  of  the 
new  century,  perhaps  towards  1350,  and  it  is  known 
to  have  replaced  a   more   conventional   circular  apse 


226  The  Early  Gothic 

whose  curve  began  with  the  fourth  bay,  and  to  have 
been  built  because  of  the  increasing  number  and  wealth 
of  the  Canons.  In  the  absence  of  substantial  facts 
concerning  the  reasons  and  details  of  its  construction, 
the  unusual  contours  of  this  part  of  the  church  have 
given  rise  to  much  speculation.  With  the  single  ex- 
ception of  Poitiers,  no  other  great  French  Cathedral  has 
this  angular  absidal  form,  and  as  the  style  was  usual  in 
England  and  the  pilgrims  who  had  begged  money  for 
a  re-building  of  Laon  had  been  in  that  far-off  country, 
English  writers  have  seen  a  proof  of  English  influence. 
Viollet-le-Duc,  on  the  other  hand,  tells  us  that  many 
small  native  churches,  found  not  only  in  Normandy, 
Brittany,  and  Burgundy,  but  in  Champagne  and  the 
Isle-de- France,  had  this  peculiar  trait;  and  his  infer- 
ence is  that  both  the  square  and  the  rounded  apse  were 
forms  inherent  in  French  genius,  and  that,  having  im- 
agined both  methods  of  construction,  the  critical  native 
taste  generally  approved  the  rounded  style.  How- 
ever these  things  may  be,  Laon  has  by  far  the  noblest 
among  the  square  apses  built  in  France.  With  its 
massive  exterior,  and  the  rows  of  heavy,  handsome 
pillars  and  aisles  of  the  interior  closed  by  the  Eastern 
wall  which  is  so  splendidly  set  with  glass,  it  is  the 
embodiment  of  a  sober  and  majestic  ideal  of  the  early 
Gothic  and,  whatever  the  source  of  its  inspiration,  it 
was  not  unworthy  of  French  builders. 

Between  the  choir  and  the  nave  rises  the  square 
lantern,  with  its  triforium-like  gallery,  its  eight  windows, 


Laon  227 

and  its  vaulting  which  is  an  hundred  and  thirty  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  church's  paving.  In  these 
heights,  as  in  nearly  all  far-away  corners  of  mediaeval 


m 


"  A    SQUARE    APSE    WHICH,    WHATEVER    ITS    INSPIRATION, 
WAS  NOT  UNWORTHY  OF  FRENCH    BUILDERS." — LAON. 

Cathedrals,  the  workmanship  is  as  careful  as  that  of 
the  most  frequented  portions  of  the  edifice;  and  the 
heads  of  men  and  monsters,  the  angel  with  folded 
hands   and   outspread   wings,    and   the   large    wreath 


228  The  Early  Gothic 

which  forms  the  key  of  the  vaulting  are  beautifully 
executed,  and  the  capitals  and  groups  of  slender 
columns  are  arranged  with  all  the  art  which  the  makers 
of  Laon  could  command. 

Whether  the  purpose  of  a  Cathedral's  spires  were 
primarily  artistic  or  whether  they  were  evolved  in 
conformation  with  definite  symbolic  precepts,  their 
practicality,  their  beauty,  and  some  at  least  of  their 
ecclesiastical  significance  are  facts  which,  to  the  Chris- 
tian mind,  would  scarcely  need  explanation.  The 
central  tower,  however,  with  its  vaulted  height  opening 
above  the  church's  crossing,  is  at  once  a  more  compli- 
cated effort  and  one  whose  symbolism  is  less  obvious. 
That  the  open  lantern  embodied  an  ecclesiastical  idea 
which  was  not  universally  adopted  is  proven  by  the  fact 
that  some  great  Cathedrals  of  all  periods,  from  early 
Sens  and  Paris  to  mature  Amiens,  were  built  without 
it,  and  their  spires — where  spires  exist — rise  over  a  vault 
of  solid  masonry.  It  is  said  that,  in  early  times,  the 
Blessed  Sacrament  lay  beneath  the  lantern  and  that 
this  tower,  higher  than  any  other  tower  of  the  church, 
proclaimed  the  Holy  Place.  Whether  this  is  or  is  not 
strictly  accurate,  old  manuscripts  tell  us  that  a  crown 
of  finely  wrought  iron  formerly  hung  in  the  lantern  of 
Laon  and  that  the  crown's  many  candles,  lighted  at  the 
midnight  Mass  of  Christmas  and  other  solemn  festivi- 
ties, cast  an  "indescribably  beautiful"  and  mellow 
glow  into  the  shadowy  heights  of  the  tower. 

The  transepts  extend  North  and  South  from  either 


Laon  229 

side  of  the  central  tower.  Whether  they  add  to  the 
perfection  of  the  general  effect,  even  when  in  them- 
selves most  admirable,  is  a  matter  of  opinion  rather  than 
of  fact.  It  would  be  an  able  pleader  who  could  prove 
that  Bourges  with  the  addition  of  these  transverse 
aisles  would  be  more  magnificent  than  it  now  is;  and 
not  infrequently  they  seem  only  huge  alcoves,  or,  as 
those  of  Paris,  massive  settings  for  the  glowing  jewel 
of  some  great  rose. 

The  arms  of  the  Latin  Cross  of  Laon,  however,  have 
unusual  dignity  and  architectural  interest.  Instead 
of  being  narrow  and,  in  comparison  with  the  rest  of  the 
interior,  contracted,  they  have  a  broad  central  walk  and 
side-aisles  and  a  spaciousness  of  proportion  which 
makes  them  akin  to  the  nave,  and  they  are  an  harmo- 
nious, if  not  an  essential  part  of  a  grand  whole.  Much 
of  their  construction  belongs  to  the  earliest  period  of  the 
present  church,  but  the  Northern  and  Southern  walls 
were  modified  in  the  XIV  century.  Lateral  portals 
were  built  or  re-built ;  the  early  rose  of  the  South  side 
was  replaced  by  a  large  window  with  radiating  tracery ; 
and  the  North  side  was  in  a  like  process  of  transfor- 
mation, but,  fortunately  for  the  history  of  stained- 
glass,  the  venerable  stone  circle,  with  its  seventeen 
round  windows  and  their  paintings  of  the  Liberal  Arts, 
was  left  untouched . 

Besides  their  essential,  important  parts,  the  transepts 
contain  smaller  and  interesting  details, — two  quadran- 
gular rooms  which  lie  in  the  angles  between  the  choir 


230  The  Early  Gothic 

and  the  transept,  four  large  chapels,  a  cell-like  room, 
several  of  those  tiny  doorways  which  abound  in  old 
churches  and  often  lead  to  important  stairways,  and 
the  chapels  of  the  XIII  century  which  are  built  on  the 
Eastern  side  of  each  transept. 

These  chapels  are  two-storied,  and  the  upper  rooms 
are  on  the  level  of  the  broad  gallery.  The  lower  rooms, 
with  their  short,  thin  columns,  sharply  pointed  arches, 
and  high,  narrow  windows,  are  in  striking  contrast  to 
the  strong  and  heavy  forms  of  the  early  Gothic  of  the 
aisles,  and  they  are  most  graceful, — but  their  grace  is 
surpassed  by  that  of  the  chapels  which  rise  above 
them.  One  of  these  rooms  was  a  Treasury  and  con- 
tained the  archives  of  the  Cathedral;  it  also  served  as  a 
chamber  for  the  "  custodians  "  who  watched  the  church 
by  day  and  night,  and,  to  add  to  their  comfort,  a 
chimney-place  was  built  in  it.  Both  rooms  have, 
however,  distinctly  ecclesiastical  forms  and  seem  like 
miniature  churches.  Much  of  their  effectiveness  is 
now  destroyed  by  the  plain,  white  glass  of  their  win- 
dows, but  the  little  polygonal  apses  with  double  rows 
of  lancets,  the  slender  columns  which  sustain  the 
arches,  and  the  ribs  which  rise  from  the  capitals  to 
meet  in  the  vaulting  have  the  harmony  of  exquisite 
proportions  and  unite  in  forming  tiny  Gothic  struc- 
tures of  very  remarkable  perfection  whose  architectural 
delicacy  and  finished  elegance,  hidden  in  far-distant 
Laon,  are  not  unworthy  of  the  school  of  Saint-Urbain 
of  Troyes  and  of  the  Sainte-Chapelle  of  Paris. 


Laon  231 

The  Capitulary  Prisons  are  details  which  suggest  a 
psychological  interest.  Having  the  duties  of  both 
"High"  and  "Low"  justice,  the  Chapter  necessarily 
had  its  places  of  incarceration.  Whether  because  the 
Canons  were  desirous  of  placing  malefactors  beneath, 
as  it  were,  the  very  shadow  of  the  church,  and  within 
the  inspiration  of  its  holy  services,  or  whether  it  was 
considered  fitting  that  ecclesiastical  offenders  should 
suffer  within  consecrated  walls,  is  not  known;  but, 
strange  as  it  may  seem  to  the  modern  mind ,  these  cells 
were  virtually  a  part  of  the  Cathedral.  The  room  or 
chapel  under  the  tower  of  the  North  transept  is  said 
to  have  been  the  largest  "dungeon,"  and  its  handsome 
window,  opened  in  the  restoration  of  1892,  was  for- 
merly blocked  by  stones.  In  the  wall,  above  the  door, 
there  was  a  niche  with  an  iron-barred  gate,  and  the 
person  who  was  confined  here  could  hear  the  words  of 
the  Mass.  Near  by  was  another  cell  about  seven  feet 
long  and  half  as  wide.  A  short  stone  slab,  raised  a  little 
above  the  floor  and  covered  with  straw,  was  the  pris- 
oner's bed,  food  was  passed  to  him  through  a  square 
hole  in  the  wall,  another  small  opening  shed  a  dim 
light  into  the  room, — and  it  was  here  that  the  most 
insubordinate  were  incarcerated.  The  cell  was  indeed 
chilly  and  melancholy;  but,  in  comparison  with  hun- 
dreds of  other  mediaeval  prisons,  it  was  a  place  of  cheer 
and  comfort;  and  if  this  is,  as  it  has  been  averred, 
the  most  terrible  spot  into  which  the  Canons  of  Laon 
could  throw  their  prisoners,  they  were,  in  this  respect 


232  The  Early  Gothic 

at    least,    among    the    most    humane    justiciaries    of 
Mediae  valism. 

To  see  a  procession  of  those  who  once  occupied  the 
niche  and  the  big  and  the  little  cell  would  be  most 
curiously  interesting.  In  1544,  there  was  no  less  cele- 
brated a  prisoner  than  the  Canon  who  had  created 
"a  frightful  scandal"  by  wearing  "very  fancifully 
slashed"  knee-boots;  in  1603,  a  cell  is  said  to  have  been 
occupied  by  Pasquette  le  Jeune,  daughter  of  a  tavern- 
keeper,  who  claimed  that  she  was  "possessed  by  the 
enemv";  and  numbers  of  other  figures  as  strange,  as 
fantastic,  and  perhaps  more  wicked,  "heretics"  and 
" demoniacs,"  and  lay  and  tonsured  offenders,  passed  in 
and  out  the  chambers  of  the  Northern  tower ;  but  few 
among  them  have  the  interest  of  Nicole  Obry  of  Ver- 
vins,  who  was  brought  to  the  Cathedral  in  1566,  three 
days  after  her  marriage.  The  case  is  strange  and  ob- 
scure, fully  and  yet  vaguely  described,  not  without 
symptoms  of  real  hysteria,  and  still  not  without 
symptoms  of  charlatanism  on  the  part  of  the  young 
woman.  Whatever  may  have  been  in  reality  her 
mental  or  moral  disease,  she  was  believed  to  be  "de- 
livered over  to  a  demon, ' '  and  the  Bishop  was  besought 
to  pronounce  over  her  the  strange  and  impressive 
ceremony  of  "exorcism."  In  order  that  her  soul  might 
be  fortified  and  that  Satan  should  be  discomfited  by 
assistance  at  the  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass,  the  young 
woman  was  placed  in  the  niche  with  the  iron  grating; 
and  at  the  hour  of  the  ceremonial  she  was  brought 


Laon  233 

out  and  led  to  a  platform  in  the  centre  of  the  Cathedral 
and  in  the  sight  of  all  worshippers. 

The  news  of  the  "demoniac  of  Vervins"and  of  the 
expected  miracle  caused  the  greatest  excitement 
among  the  people  of  the  surrounding  country,  and 
more  than  ten  thousand  persons  daily  crowded  up 
the  hill-side  and  poured  through  the  gates  of  the  town. 
It  is  said  that  "doctors  and  chemists "  and  "  authorities 
of  justice"  came  to  peer  at  her,  she  was  made  to  touch 
sacred  relics,  Canons  advanced  and  intoned  prayer 
after  prayer  in  her  behalf,  the  Bishop  pronounced 
exorcisms — and  the  multitude  of  people  who  filled 
the  nave  and  aisles  and  transepts  looked  and  waited. 
Several  days  went  by  and  the  "demon"  remained  en- 
throned. It  was  the  time  of  the  Religious  Wars,  and 
the  subject  of  the  demoniac  naturally  aroused  the  most 
passionate  discussions  between  Catholics  and  Hugue- 
nots. Finally  Monseigneur  de  Montmorency,  Governor 
of  the  Isle-de-France,  was  obliged  to  intervene;  and,  a 
week  later,  after  two  months  of  daily  rites,  the  "devil" 
departed  from  his  victim  and  the  Catholics  triumphed. 

Although  histories  of  this  long  drama  abounded  in 
the  XVI  century,  it  is  difficult  to  find  one  in  our  own 
day.  The  lateral  enclosure  of  the  choir  of  Laon,  on 
which  the  "principal  circumstances  of  the  exorcism" 
were  represented,  would  have  been  a  valuable  monu- 
ment of  theological  archaeology,  but  it  also  has  disap- 
peared ;  and  the  story  of  Nicole  Obry  is  almost  forgotten. 

Many   years   before   these   events,   the   plan  of  the 


234  The  Early  Gothic 

Cathedral  had  received  the  usual,  uninteresting  mod- 
ification— the  addition  of  a  number  of  lateral  chapels, 
founded,  as  was  customary,  by  clergy  and  laity  who 
desired  to  secure  during  their  stay  in  purgatory  the 
prayers  and  care  of  the  Church.  These  endowments 
were  multiplied,  and  to  fulfil  the  requests  of  the  donors 
became  the  life-work  of  fifty-six  Chaplains. 

The  inevitable  architectural  changes  took  place. 
The  exterior  walls  of  the  nave  and  choir  were  pulled 
down,  rows  of  small,  monotonous  alcoves  were  con- 
structed between  the  huge  buttresses,  and,  seemingly 
to  make  an  unbeautiful  effect  totally  inharmonious, 
the  good  people  of  the  Renaissance  began  in  1522  and 
finished  in  1620  a  complete  series  of  chapel  screens  of 
the  pseudo-classic  form. 

The  unnecessary,  petty  perspectives  of  the  chapels 
have  disturbed  the  effectiveness  of  the  low  side-aisles, 
which  in  themselves  have  one  fundamental  disposition 
that  is  persistently  unpleasing, — the  alternating  axes 
of  the  point  of  intersection  of  the  arches  of  the  vaulting ; 
but  in  spite  of  these  defects,  the  aisles  are  dignified 
walks.  In  contrast  with  them,  and  at  the  same  time 
in  complete  consonance  of  style,  are  the  large  dimensions 
of  the  majestic  nave.  Among  the  twenty  colossal 
pillars  which  aid  in  its  support,  four  have  most  curious 
characteristics.  Each  of  the  tetralogy  is  flanked  by 
four  slender  pillars,  which,  adding  to  the  strength  of 
the  ponderous  central  cylinder,  have  a  constructive 
value.     The  device  is  not  artistically  displeasing,  and 


Lao  n 


235 


seems  to  have  been  an  attempt  to  create  a  new  form 
which  should  be  at  once  practical  and  decorative. 
Why  the  form  was  abandoned  in  the  building  of  other 
pillars  is  not  known,  and  the 
four  stand  near  the  entrance  of 
the  choir,  unique,  mysterious, — 
without  written  history;  and 
happily  their  lesser  differences 
do  not  break  upon  the  larger 
harmony  of  so  great  an  interior. 
The  first  three  bays  of  the 
choir,  like  those  of  the  transepts, 
are  of  the  Romano-Gothic  of  the 
middle  XII  century;  the  square 
bases  of  the  columns,  orna- 
mented with  claws,  are  remin- 
iscent of  an  Attic  form,  and 
many  details  betoken  the  period 
of  transition.  The  later  bays 
of  the  choir  and  nave  have  fewer 
hesitancies,  fewer  traces  of  pass- 
ing styles.  The  bases  of  the 
huge  pillars  are  octagonal,  and 
their  capitals  have  two,  three,  or 
four  rows  of  leaves  which  are 
very  graceful  and  varied  but  at 

the  same  time  extremely  simple.  From  the  abacuses 
of  the  capitals,  bundles  of  three  or  five  slender  columns 
ascend  with  elegance  and  boldness  to  meet  the  ribs 


A  GREAT  PILLAR  .  .  , 
FLANKED  BY  FOUR  SLEN- 
DER   COLUMNS." LAON. 


236 


The  Early  Gothic 


of  the  vaulting,  and  between  these  clusters,  the  twin 
arches  of  the  gallery  and  the  arcades  of  the  triforium 
rise  successively. 

The  first  gallery  of  the  Cathedral  is  one  of  those 

broad,  cloister-like 
walks  which  found 
passing  favour  in 
the  eyes  of  early 
Gothic  architects. 
It  resembles  those 
of  Senlis  and  Paris 
and  Noyon.  If 
not  more  elegant 
than  the  slender 
Gothic  of  the  gal- 
1  e  r  y  of  Notre- 
Dame  of  Paris,  it 
has  the  merit  of 
being  in  truer  har- 
mony with  the 
style  of  the  rest  of 
the  interior;  and, 
as  Laon  is  more 
magnificent  than  the  fine,  small  Cathedral  of  Noyon, 
so,  proportionately,  the  broad  gallery  of  Laon  sur- 
passes that  of  Calvin's  church. 

No  mere  enumeration  of  technicalities  can  give  a  true 
idea  of  this  beautiful  gallery.  In  perfect  consonance 
with  the  church's  general  style,  spacious  without  being 


.     SLENDER  GOTHIC  OF  THE    GALLERY 
OF   NOTRE-DAME  OF  PARIS." 


[IS    BEAUTIFUL    GALLERY.     LAON. 


237 


Laon  239 

ponderous,  and  yet  combining  obvious  strength  with 
an  equally  obvious  symmetry,  it  is  a  place  of  lovely 
perspectives,  charming  vistas,  and  interesting  detail. 
Some  capitals  are  deeply,  luxuriantly  cut  with  the 
animals  and  conventional  plants  of  the  Romanesque; 
others  are  early  Gothic, — simple,  natural,  and  charming 
arrangements  of  different  leaves;  but,  as  in  all  the 
interior,  form,  not  sculpture,  was  the  means  through 
which  the  builder  was  pleased  to  create. 

The  true  triforium,  rising  above  the  gallery,  is  con- 
structed after  the  conventional,  accepted  model — each 
bay  contains  three  little  arches  resting  on  stumpy  little 
columns  and  is  bounded  above  by  a  horizontal  cord 
of  stone ;  the  clerestory,  with  its  rows  of  white  windows, 
is  also  plainly  dignified  and  conventional ;  and  the  keys 
of  the  broad,  simple  vault,  which  seem  lost  in  the 
heights,  are  in  reality  great  crowns  of  foliage. 

In  spite  of  the  vast  difference  between  high  and 
low  lighting,  the  architectural  similarity  between  this 
nave  and  that  of  Notre-Dame  of  Paris  is  obvious ;  and 
although  Laon  was  the  earlier  conception,  the  superi- 
ority does  not  always  rest  with  the  metropolitan 
church. 

The  capitals  of  the  nave  columns  of  Laon  are  far 
from  possessing  the  richness  of  those  of  Paris,  and  the 
forms  of  the  broad  gallery  are  not  so  exquisitely  slender, 
but  the  concord  reigning  between  the  different  stories 
of  the  aisle  seems  proportionately  greater.  In  looking 
from  the  gallery  of  Notre-Dame  of  Paris  into  the  nave, 


240 


The  Early  Gothic 


one  feels  a  surprise  that  it  should  be  so  heavy;  and  in 
glancing  upward  into  the  gallery,  a  wonder  that  it 
should  be  so  slim.     At  Laon,  this  is  not  so;  the  upper 


BREAKS    THE    UPWARD    LINE    INTO    MORE    SYMMETRICAL 
PROPORTIONS." — LAON. 

arcades  have  a  fine  and  definite  strength ;  and,  whether 
the  pillars  of  the  nave  are  less  massive  in  comparison 
with  those  of  this  first  gallery,  or  whether  the  small 
triforium  makes  an  additional  story  and  breaks  the  up- 


Laon  241 

ward  line  into  more  symmetrical  proportions,  the  nave 
seems  more  happily  planned  than  that  of  the  more 
famous  Paris,  and  the  harmony  which  reigns  between 
its  parts  is  felicitous  and  satisfying. 

A  portion  of  the  Cathedral  which  is  seldom  seen  is 
the  crypt,  a  small,  circular  chamber  that  is  believed 
to  occupy  the  site  of  the  grotto  of  Saint-Beat,  the 
missionary  who  came  to  Laon  in  the  III  century.  It 
is  not,  as  is  usual,  entered  from  the  choir,  but  from  the 
Court  of  the  Bishop's  Palace,  by  a  staircase  of  forty 
steps  which  is  covered  with  a  finely  vaulted,  semicircu- 
lar dome,  and,  like  many  crypts,  it  is  no  longer  used 
for  services. 

The  exterior  of  Our  Lady  of  Laon  is  entirely  devoid 
of  the  harmonious  unity  of  the  interior.  Its  effect  is 
by  no  means  as  heterogeneous  as  that  of  the  outer  walls 
of  Rouen;  but  its  details,  often  exquisitely,  sometimes 
strangely  beautiful,  and  sometimes  interesting,  lack 
unity,  homogeneity  of  style. 

The  Northern  and  Southern  walls  were  much 
changed  by  the  addition  of  the  lateral  chapels,  and  as 
each  mediaeval  period  built  according  to  the  taste  of  its 
own  genius,  the  lower  structure  naturally  has  the  more 
highly  developed,  more  ornamental  forms  of  the  XIV 
century.  Above  these  new  details  stretch  the  arms 
of  flying-buttresses  which  are  simple  and  primitive, 
and  almost  tiny  in  comparison  with  the  large  bulk  of 
the  church ;  but  the  Transition  declares  itself  with  much 
classic  reminiscence  in  the  high  parts  of  the  walls,  the 


242  The  Early  Gothic 

comparatively  small  windows  of  the  clerestory  are 
finely  decorated,  and  the  whole  upper  gallery  has  a 
richly  carved  frieze  carried  by  caryatides.  In  the 
oldest  gargoyles,  only  the  rude  beginnings  of  this 
favourite  form  of  mediaeval  sculpture  may  be  studied. 
They  are  large,  few  in  number,  and  grotesquely  crude, 
but  they  have  none  of  the  Rabelaisian  imaginativeness 
which  characterised  later  conceptions;  and  they  are 
worthy  of  only  a  modest  place  in  the  Zoological  Garden 
of  gargoyles,  that  "world  of  animals"  of  which  Viollet- 
le-Duc  says  that  "  in  all  France  he  knows  no  two  alike." 
The  glory  of  the  Cathedral's  iconography,  and,  as  it 
were,  its  great  Stone  Bible,  is  gathered  on  the  facade, 
above  the  doors  where  it  may  be  easily  read,  about 
the  windows,  and  sculptured  as  graphically  in  the 
heights,  far  beyond  the  vision  of  the  worshippers  who 
come  and  go  in  the  little  Square.  The  three  portals, 
beneath  the  heavy,  shadowing  porches,  are  full  of  the 
Church's  lessons,  two  huge  gargoyles  under  the  pin- 
nacles symbolise  Evil  Spirits  flying  from  the  Cathedral ; 
and  back  of  them,  half -hidden,  are  eight  small  windows 
and  a  cornice.  The  rose,  noted  for  its  "perfection  of 
workmanship,"  rises  above,  and  is  flanked  on  either 
side  by  windows  whose  deep  bays  are  filled  with 
representations  of  subjects  dear  to  scholastic  theology. 
I  ligher  still  is  a  large  gallery  with  graceful  little  columns, 
small  arcades,  and  heavy  pinnacles;  and  finally, 
between  the  two  towers  whose  separate  stages  now 
begin,    there  is   an   insignificant   gallery   and   another 


SIT    THE    GLORY    OF    THE    CATHEDRAL  S    .    .    .    GREAT    STONE    BOOK    OF 
THEOLOGY     IS     PRINTED     ON     THE     FACADE." LAON. 


243 


Laon  245 

suggestion  of  heavenly  things,  statues  of  the  Virgin 
and  of  Angels. 

In  considering  a  part  of  these  sculptures,  the  great 
French  critic  writes:  "The  Cathedral  of  Laon,  whose 
facade  cannot  antedate  1200,  even  in  its  lower  struc- 
ture, shows  on  its  doors  bas-reliefs  or  sculptures  which 
have  preserved  a  well-defined  archaic  character.  The 
artists,  creators  of  these  works,  are  impregnated  by 
the  example  of  Grecian  paintings,  and  there  is,  in  the 
adjustment  of  the  figures  and  in  the  composition,  a 
careful  symmetry  which  recalls  that  of  the  vignettes 
of  Greek  manuscripts.  This  is  shown  even  in  the 
choice  of  subjects,  in  the  draperies,  and  in  certain 
accessories  such  as  seats  and  dais. 

In  the  XIII  century,  a  Dominican  Saint,  Vincent  of 
Beauvais,  compiled  a  book  of  "all  sacred  wisdom,  and 
all  profane  wisdom  which  was  also  an  emanation  of 
the  divine  wisdom."  The  sculptors  who  illustrated 
such  a  compendium  carved  only  less  voluminously 
than  their  text,  which  usually  included,  either  cate- 
gorically or  in  substance,  the  "Natural  Mirror,"  or 
natural  phenomena  which,  at  Laon,  are  illustrated  in 
the  "Creation"  of  the  South  facade  window;  the 
"Doctrinal  Mirror,"  whose  Virtues  and  Vices  are 
shown  in  the  vaulting  of  a  portal;  and  the  largest 
subject,  the  "Historical  Mirror,"  which  occupies 
nearly  all  the  sculptured  spaces  of  the  three  porches. 

Since  the  restoration  of  these  carvings,  their  many 
themes  mav  be  clearly  read.     It  is  said  that  some  of 


246 


The  Early  Gothic 


the  statues  were  re-made,  not  in  imitation  of  the 
ancient  models,  but  according  to  the  intuition  of  the 
modern  architects;  and,  in  mediaeval  style  but  not 
according  to  mediaeval  custom,  the  heads  of  the  "mas- 
ters" of  the  work  of  the  XIX  century,  Boeswillwald 
and  Nieuwerkerke,  were  carved  on  the  Western  wall. 

There  seems  to  be  no 
very  legitimate  reason 
for  the  addition  of 
these  portraits;  but,  if 
the  large  statues  were 
destroyed,  they  could 
scarcely  be  replaced  by 
copies,  and  to  the  hon- 
our of  the  restorers  it 
should  be  said  that 
their  delicate,  difficult 


THE      HEADS       OF    , 
AND    NIEUWERKERKE    WERE    CONSPIC- 
UOUSLY   CARVED    ON    THE    WESTERN 
WALL.  " 


boeswillwald     task    was     judiciously 
planned  and  that  the 
new  statues  are  imprint 
with  the  spirit  of  the  XIII   century. 

The  North  portal  tells  of  the  early  Life  of  Christ 
and  the  Virgin.  Its  large  figures  represent  with  sincere 
dramatic  feeling  the  Visitation  and  the  Presentation, 
the  tympanum  holds  the  scenes  of  the  Nativity  and  the 
Magis'  Adoration,  and  among  the  assisting  Angels  of 
the  vaulting,  the  Holy  Ghost  hovers  in  the  form  of  a 
Dove. 
The  statues  of  the  South  portal  are  worthy  repro- 


Laon  247 

ductions,  but  the  interest  of  the  door  lies  in  the  sculp- 
tures of  the  vaulting  and  the  tympanum.  Within 
this  comparatively  restricted  space  is  depicted  the 
sermon  which  was  more  often  given  to  the  largest  of 
stone  canvases  and  placed  above  a  Cathedral's  chief 
portal;  yet  the  story  of  the  sermon  is  told  with  clear 
detail.  Its  text  would  seem  to  be  the  last  chapters  of 
the  Gospel  of  Saint  Matthew,  and  in  the  centre  of  the 
tympanum,  as  is  fitting,  is  the  Last  Tribunal,  and  Christ 
the  Just  Judge,  before  Whom  all  mortals  are  coming. 
Near  His  dread  and  colossal  Figure  kneel  the  imploring 
Virgin  and  Saints;  and,  above  them,  as  if  to  intercede 
through  memories  of  His  human  life,  Angels  hover, 
bearing  the  Instruments  of  the  Passion.  Below,  the 
naked  dead  are  arising;  and  another  Angel,  with  a 
sword,  is  keeping  the  Elect  upon  the  "right  hand"  of 
Christ  and  driving  the  Lost,  King,  Bishop,  Abbot,  and 
commoner  alike,  toward  a  grinning  and  hungry  Devil. 

In  the  vaulting,  members  of  the  heavenly  hosts  are 
carrying  the  new-born  souls  of  the  Righteous,  which 
look  like  babies,  to  the  "  bosom  of  Abraham  " ;  and  after 
this  entrance  into  heaven,  there  is  the  distribution  of 
rewards.  The  spectator  is  reminded  of  the  words  of  the 
second  chapter  of  the  Revelation  of  Saint  John,  "  Be 
thou  faithful  unto  death,  and  I  will  give  thee  a  crown 
of  life," — for  angels  are  giving  crowns,  martyrs  rejoice 
in  their  palms,  others  are  blessed  with  flowers,  all  the 
Just  sit  upon  thrones,  and  the  eternal  glory  and  happi- 
ness of  heaven  reign. 


248  The  Early  Gothic 

"The  conclusion  which  the  living  should  draw  from 
this  striking  spectacle ' '  was  perhaps  even  more  obvious 
to  the  Faithful  of  mediaeval  Laon  than  to  the  Christian 
of  to-day.  He  was  accustomed  to  read  these  "  sermons 
in  stones,"  and  every  time  that  he  entered  this  Cathe- 
dral he  was  reminded  to  watch  and  pray,  "  for  ye  know 
neither  the  day  nor  the  hour  wherein  the  Son  of  Man 
cometh." 

According  to  general  custom,  the  central  portal 
is  the  largest  and  finest  of  the  church's  doors.  It  was 
here,  on  the  day  of  "Solemn  Entry,"  that  the  Bishop 
first  came  to  his  Cathedral  from  the  Abbey  of  Saint 
Vincent;  and  here,  bare-footed,  and  escorted  by  many 
monks,  he  paused  to  present  the  Bulls  to  the  powerful 
Chapter  and  to  be  formally  received  by  its  members. 
Then  the  Dean  gave  the  new  Prelate  the  Cross  that  he 
might  kiss  it,  and  presented  him  with  Holy  Water;  and, 
after  the  Bishop  had  sprinkled  himself  and  those  who 
stood  near  him,  he  went  in  to  be  enthroned;  and  the 
organs  pealed  and  the  beautiful  bells  of  Laon  rang 
out,  and  one  more  name  was  added  to  the  list  of  the 
holy  Saint-Beat's  successors. 

About  this  historic  threshold  stand  statues  of  eight 
Apostles,  and  the  central  pier  bears  the  Mother, 
crowned  and  holding  the  Infant  Jesus.  The  tympanum 
contains  the  representations  of  the  triumphant  death 
and  glorification  of  this  Virgin  Mother;  and  in  the 
vaulting,  Angels  carrying  symbols  of  which  Solomon's 
Song  and  the  Apocalypse  speak,  crown,  sun,  palm,  and 


THE      RECOGNITION     OF     THE     LOWLY     POUND     DURING 
MIDDLE    AGES    .     .     .    WITHIN    THE    CHURCH,    HAS    NO    . 
MORE    ARTISTIC    EXPRESSION    THAN    IN    THESE    BIG 
OXEN.  " LAON. 


'49 


Laon  251 

crescent,  seem  to  assist  at  the  solemn  and  imposing 
scenes. 

The  Church's  story  was  continued  in  the  pinnacles 
of  the  porch,  and  within  the  central  peak  the  Blessed 
Virgin  again  sits,  enthroned;  on  the  Southern  side, 
Saint  Raphael  and  Saint  Gabriel  suggest  the  mysterious 
description  of  the  so-called  "apocryphal"  Scriptures; 
and  the  statue  of  a  young  maid  and  two  attendant 
Angels  recall  to  the  mind  of  the  Laonnais  one  of  the 
pure,  young  martyrs  of  his  own  country-side,  Sainte- 
Preuve,  and  incite  him  to  "  follow  in  her  train." 

But  some  of  the  most  famous  of  the  Cathedral's 
sculptures  are  in  the  distant  embrasures  of  the  upper 
windows.  Viollet-le-Duc  considers  that  the  figures  of 
the  Liberal  Arts  carven  here  are  among  "  the  finest "  of 
mediaeval  conceptions  of  that  subject,  and,  to  the 
student  of  theological  evolution,  the  illustrations  of 
the  Creation  have  especial  significance. 

"  So  literal  was  this  whole  conception,"  writes  Doctor 
White,  ' '  that  in  these  days  it  can  scarcely  be  im- 
agined. The  Almighty  was  represented  in  theological 
literature,  in  the  pictured  Bibles,  and  in  works  of  art 
generally,  as  a  sort  of  enlarged  and  venerable  Nurnberg 
toymaker.  .  .  .  Such  representations  presented  no 
difficulties  to  the  docile  minds  of  the  Middle  Ages  .  .  .; 
and  in  the  same  spirit,  when  the  discovery  of  fossils 
began  to  provoke  thought,  these  were  declared  to  be 
'models  of  His  works  approved  or  rejected  by  the 
great  Artificer,'  'outlines  of  future  creations,'  'sports 


252  The  Early  Gothic 

of  Nature,'  or  'objects  placed  in  the  strata  to  bring  to 
naught  human  curiosity ' ;  and  this  kind  of  explanation 
lingered  on  until  in  our  own  time  an  eminent  naturalist, 
in  his  anxiety  to  save  the  literal  account  in  Genesis, 
has  urged  that  Jehovah  tilted  and  twisted  the  strata, 
scattered  the  fossils  through  them,  scratched  the 
glacial  furrows  upon  them,  spread  over  them  the 
marks  of  erosion  by  water,  and  set  Niagara  pouring — 
all  in  an  instant — thus  mystifying  the  world  '  for  some 
inscrutable  purpose,  but  for  His  own  glory.'  " 

In  the  Middle  Ages,  however,  no  such  complicated 
explanations  were  necessary  for  the  average  intelli- 
gence. God  is  shown  as  He  considers  the  world  He  is 
about  to  make.  He  seems  to  be  counting  on  His 
fingers,  computing,  perhaps,  how  long  it  will  take;  He 
creates  the  celestial  hierarchy,  separates  the  waters, 
and,  finally,  "on  the  seventh  day,"  He  leans  on  a  staff, 
"rests,"  and  sleeps. 

The  outer  walls  of  the  transepts  of  Laon  have  com- 
parative!}* few  storied  sculptures,  and  they  exemplify 
the  fact  that  incompletion  is  maiming  to  the  grandeur 
of  the  Gothic.  With  both  her  arms,  the  Venus  de 
Milo  would,  perhaps,  be  no  more  beautiful ;  the  mind 
of  an  artist  has  never  conceived  a  "Winged  Victory" 
more  gloriously  triumphant  than  that  of  Samothrace 
as  it  is  to-day;  but  an  unfinished  architectural  scheme 
often  presents  a  mere  travesty  of  the  builder's  concept, 
and,  large  and  generous  as  their  dimensions  show  the 
original   plans  to  have  been,   the  transepts  in   their 


LAOX    IS    A    CATHEDRAL    OF    COMPARATIVELY    SIMPLE    STYLE. 


253 


Laon  255 

present  condition  are  so  frankly  incomplete  that  their 
magnificence  is  somewhat  rudimentary  and  they  are 
only  huge  walls  of  secondary  interest.  Akin  to  the 
square  apse-end  in  angularity  of  shape,  they  are  also 
reasonably  akin  to  it  in  style.  In  completion  they 
would  be  imposing,  but  they  now  fail  of  this  quality, 
and  perhaps  their  chief  interest  lies  in  the  curious 
absidal  effect  of  the  two-storied  chapels,  and  in  two 
or  three  details  of  the  Clock  Tower, — a  little  statue 
of  Laon's  apostolic  pilgrim,  Saint-Beat;  traces  of 
ancient  paintings  which  represent  the  Apostles;  and  a 
small  and  very  remarkable  rose  which  is  best  studied 
in  the  little  passage-way  near  the  Capitular  Hall. 

One  of  the  most  original  of  the  artistic  conceptions 
of  the  Cathedral  is  that  of  its  towers,  and,  in  the  XIII 
century,  the  chimes  of  these  towers  were  famous 
throughout  France  for  sonority  and  exquisite  har- 
monies. Almost  all  Cathedral- chimes,  although  still 
musical,  are  no  longer  as  perfect  as  they  were  five 
hundred  years  ago;  and  it  is  almost  universally  true 
that  the  towers  which  hold  the  bells  are  seldom  seen  as 
they  were  planned.  Of  the  seven  which  were  to  have 
adorned  Laon,  only  four  exist;  and  the  lofty  central 
spire  has  been  realised  in  a  heavy,  square  base  which 
ends  in  a  squat  and  peaked  roof. 

This  truncated  reminder  of  the  spire  is  frankly 
disappointing,  but  the  towers  of  the  facade  and  the 
transepts  are  wonderfully  graceful.  Rising  above  the 
last,  galleried  stage  of  the  walls,  their  lower  division 


256  The  Early  Gothic 

has  long,  twin  lancets  with  little  columns  and  orna- 
mentations of  foliage;  the  higher  and  last  division, 
above  a  flowered  frieze,  has  an  effect  of  simple,  spon- 
taneous symmetry,  it  seems  almost  as  if  it  had  grown, 
and  its  plan  has  the  lovely  and  delicate  complication 
of  a  flower.  Here  one  long  bay  pierces  each  side  of 
the  tower;  and  the  angles  of  its  walls  are  hidden  by 
small,  two-storied,  turret -like  structures.  It  would  be 
scarcely  possible  to  exaggerate  the  beauty  of  these 
tiny  turrets,  and  only  those  who  climb  to  study  the 
details  can  enjoy  their  perfection  and  the  perfection 
of  two  of  the  most  exquisite  of  mediaeval  constructions 
which  they  contain — the  spiral  staircases.  No  detail 
that  could  add  to  the  grace  of  these  narrow,  winding 
ways  has  been  forgotten — each  of  their  steps  is  sup- 
ported by  a  shaft,  and  each  shaft  has  its  carven  detail 
and  its  base;  and  it  seems  both  a  wonder  and  a  pity 
that  so  unique  and  elegant  a  conception  of  the  lighter 
Gothic  forms  should  be  placed  behind  the  arcades  of 
the  tower, — so  well  hidden  in  so  remote  a  height. 

The  facade  towers  are  ornamented  by  forty  animals ; 
and  the  strange  attitudes  of  some  of  them,  the  fright- 
ful or  peaceful  expression  of  others,  the  portrayal  of 
passions  and  sentiments  which  are  human  rather  than 
brutish,  lend  an  intimate  interest  to  these  distant 
beasts.  Among  them  are  the  famous  and  colossal 
oxen,  which  stand  at  the  angles  of  the  towers  and  seem 
to  look  with  patient  philosophy  over  the  low  country 
which    surrounds    Laon.      To    find    statues    of    these 


"  A    NOOK    IN    THE    TOWER." LAON. 


257 


Laon  259 

animals  at  so  conspicuous,  so  marked  a  post, — a  place 
of  honour,  as  it  were,  in  a  Christian  Cathedral, — is  un- 
usual and  astonishing.  History  is  silent;  but,  as  is 
often  the  case,  a  quaint  and  touching  legend  supplies 
a  possible  and,  indeed,  a  probable  interpretation. 

According  to  this  legend,  the  stone  of  the  Cathedral 
was  brought  from  quarries  down  the  mountain-side, 
and  these  stones  were  laboriously  hauled  by  oxen. 
It  is  said  that  one  of  the  beasts  sometimes  voluntarily 
walked  to  the  cart,  pulled  it  up  the  steep  road  to  the 
summit  where  the  Cathedral  was  to  stand,  and  re- 
turned for  a  second  load.  Sometimes  the  tradition  has 
a  few  little  variations ;  but  it  always  typifies  the  recog- 
nition and  exaltation  of  the  lowly,  which  during  the 
Middle  Ages  was  found  only  within  the  Church,  and 
nowhere  has  this  Christian  idea  found  a  more  unusual 
and  artistic  materialisation  than  in  the  big  oxen  of 
the  towers. 

Old  Vilart  de  Honnecourt,  writing  in  the  century 
of  great  churches,  exclaimed,  "In  no  place  have  I  seen 
towers  like  to  those  of  Laon! "  and  the  modern  traveller 
might  say  even  less  ambiguously  that  he  has  seen  few 
which  are  as  beautiful  and  none  more  original  or  more 
characteristic.  The  towers  of  the  transepts  follow  the 
same  general  plan  as  those  of  the  facade;  that  called 
"Saint  Paul"  is  higher,  more  slender,  and  more  grace- 
ful than  its  companions,  and  all  of  them  seem  to 
approach  the  ideal  of  some  lovely  campanile. 

Laon  is  of  comparatively  simple  style;  yet  to  learn 


26o 


The  Early  Gothic 


to  know  so  large  an  edifice,  it  is  necessary  to  take  many 
steps,  to  study  many  nooks  and  corners;  and  in  the 
discovery  of  these  details,  a  sense  of  the  whole  is  often 

lost.  When,  how- 
ever, every  nook 
of  every  tower  has 
been  explored, 
when  all  the  sculp- 
tured pictures 
have  been  seen, 
and  the  church 
has  become  so 
familiar  that  its 
beauties  are  like  a 
favourite,  oft-told 
tale,  the  moment 
has  come  when 
parts  are  consid- 
ered in  their  re- 
lationship to  the 
whole.  This  is 
the  moment  of  re- 
capitulation, of  in- 
evitable— if   futile 


"THE   SLENDER  TOWERS    .     .     .    RISE   ABOVE  MAS- 
SIVE   SUSTAINING    WALLS." LAON. 


— comparisons. 
Is  Our  Lady  of 
Laon,  like  Rouen,  a  mere  heterogeneous  compendium 
of  fine  and  interesting  architectural  bits  ?     Is  its  every 
part,  like  Reims,  conceived  in  almost  perfect  harmony; 


Laon  261 

or  is  it  rather  akin  to  the  majority  of  the  ecclesiastical 
structures  of  the  Middle  Ages  in  realising  a  number 
of  more  or  less  fairly  consonant  compromises  ? 

If  the  great,  square,  terminating  walls  of  the  tran- 
septs and  the  apse  are  of  kindred  style,  the  lateral  walls, 
with  their  early  upper  stage  and  the  later  Gothic  of 


"its   noble    and   majestic    SIMPLICITY." LAOX. 

the  chapels,  give  an  effect  of  inconsistency ;  and  the 
facade,  that  portion  of  the  exterior  which  is  most 
admirable  in  part,  is  also  the  least  harmonious  as  a 
whole.  Its  porches  are,  in  themselves,  stately  and 
proportioned  with  fine  dignity,  and  their  iconography 
is  particularly  interesting  and  careful  in  execution; 
but  between  the  towers  and  the  portals,  the  facade 


262  The  Early  Gothic 

seems  mannered  and  unsuccessful  in  creating  a  sense  of 
unity,  and  the  towers,  here  as  on  the  transepts,  seem 
too  light,  too  open,  too  graceful,  to  rise  above  such 
massive  walls.  Yet  the  exterior  is  largely,  splendidly 
beautiful  in  distant  view,  with  its  four  campanili  sil- 
houetted against  the  sky;  it  is  imposing  in  the  near 
perspective;  and  the  errors  of  judgment  of  its  archi- 
tects are  powerless  to  destroy  the  essential  magni- 
ficence of  their  plan. 

The  style  of  the  Western  portals,  fine,  simple,  and 
massive  work,  coincides  with  that  of  the  great  nave, 
and  before  its  noble  and  majestic  simplicity,  the  four 
roses  with  all  their  symbolism,  the  lovely  absidal 
chapels  of  the  transept — every  part  of  the  interior  pales 
in  ineffectual  beauty.  It  seems  colossal,  but  it  is  not 
stupendous  in  all  its  measurements.  It  is  large  and 
long  and  broad,  yet  in  that  incomparable  quality  of 
the  French  Cathedral,  in  loftiness,  it  is  mathematically 
deficient  and  measures  only  about  eighty  feet.  The 
mediaeval  builders,  however,  rightly  disregarded  mere 
theoretical  figures  in  the  desire  for  the  realities  of 
effect ;  and  the  nave,  with  the  satisfying  unity  and  regu- 
larity of  well-balanced  proportions,  is  also  so  imprint 
with  grandeur  that  it  is  sublimely  reposeful. 

The  criticism  that  this  great  aisle  appears  too  white 
and  cold,  that  it  is  without  the  appropriate  suggestive- 
ness  of  shadow  which  bespeaks  religious  meditation,  is 
just.  For,  contrary  to  the  ideal  custom  of  the  Gothic 
church,  the  front  door  is  almost  always  open,  and  the 


263 


Laon  265 

windows  of  the  nave  and  lantern  and  side-chapels  and 
part  of  the  transepts  are  filled  with  glass  that,  at  best, 
is  so  delicately  tinted  as  to  seem  white.  To  insinuate, 
however,  that  this  defect  is  inherent,  that  it  is  an  im- 
perfection of  the  original  plan,  is  to  betray  ignorance 
of  the  universal  dicta  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Dim  light 
and  stained-glass  were  as  integral  parts  of  the  medi- 
aeval church  as  the  aisle,  or  the  choir  itself ;  and  in  com- 
parison with  a  Cathedral  which,  like  Chartres,  still 
has  its  original  glass,  the  nave  of  Laon,  although  its 
every  stone  were  perfect,  is  but  a  ruin;  to  re-create  it 
in  its  primitive  glory  requires  almost  as  much  imagina- 
tion as  to  picture  the  ruins  of  Jumieges  in  all  their 
ancient  splendour;  and  he  who  can  see  in  the  great 
interior  only  bareness  and  coldness  of  architectural 
effect  is  not  yet  fitted  to  enter  the  portals. 

Chartres,  Reims,  Bourges,  Amiens,  Paris,  and  Beauvais 
are  popularly  supposed  to  be  the  greatest  works  which 
the  Gothic  produced  in  its  home-country;  but  right- 
fully, by  virtue  of  beauty,  strength,  and  originality,  Laon 
has  its  place  among  these  splendid  edifices.  That  it  has 
been  neglected  is  due  both  to  its  comparatively  unim- 
portant part  in  the  annals  of  national  history  and  the 
insignificance  into  which  its  little  city  has  declined ;  that, 
with  the  growth  of  travel,  it  will  increase  in  fame  until 
it  secures  its  rank  in  the  history  of  architecture  seems 
certain.  Naturally  the  French  have  appreciated  it 
longer  and  more  truly  than  the  English-speaking  folk, 
but  some  years  ago  one  among  these  folk,  in  his  "History 


266  The  Early  Gothic 

of  Architecture,"  finely  wrote,  "  Laon  stands  most  nobly 
on  ...  a  high,  isolated  hill,  ...  it  is  in  many  re- 
spects one  of  the  most  interesting  of  the  Cathedrals 
of  France,"  and  the  people  have  named  it  truly,  "the 
great  church." 

Of  supreme  importance  to  the  celebration 
of  the  Holy  Mysteries,  the  apse  was  usually 
IK  a  finished  before  any  other  portion  of  the 

church.  "Yet  it  would  be  a  fallacy  to 
believe  that  the  original  plan  is  always  perceivable  by 
looking  at  the  Eastern  end  of  a  Cathedral  as  it  now 
stands."  For  it  became  a  pious  custom  to  add  chapels, 
sometimes  one  by  one,  sometimes  by  groups,  to  the 
flanks  of  the  holy  edifice,  and  these  chapels  so  often 
essentially  disturb  the  fine  proportions  of  the  building 
that  they  are  scarcely  more  embellishing  than  hoop- 
skirts  to  a  woman.  The  Southern  line  of  Chartres  is 
unpleasantly  broken  by  the  Chapel  of  the  Bourbons, 
the  Northern  wall  of  Seez  has  a  similar  excrescence 
which,  happily,  is  to  be  destroyed,  and  Laon  possesses 
two  long  series  of  comparatively  unimportant,  angular, 
cell-like  additions. 

The  Cathedral  of  Paris  has  also  its  later  additions. 
A  half  circle  of  chapels  of  a  far  more  developed  style 
than  the  choir  stands  about  its  apse.  Almost  all  of 
their  wall  space  is  sheer  glass,  but  by  rare  good- 
fortune  they  are  concealed  during  many  months  of 
the    year   by   thick    foliage,    and  the   upper  walls  of 


267 


Paris  269 

the  church  rise  in  the  unspoiled  splendour  of  their 
sombre  antiquity. 

For  so  massive  a  Cathedral,  the  vessel  is  exceedingly 
slender.  In  its  rounded  end,  it  suggests  the  great  apse 
of  Bourges;  but  is  much  lighter,  much  more  delicately 
formed,  and  seems  more  soaring  and  more  elevated. 
From  its  sides,  the  elongated,  giant  arms  of  the  flying- 
buttresses  reach  the  straight  piles  of  the  chapel  walls, 
and  these  piles  end  in  ornamented  niches  and  quaintly 
tall  and  peaked  needles.  But  the  great  flying-buttresses 
themselves  are  severely  plain;  so  severe  and  plain  that 
by  every  law  of  chance  they  should  also  be  stiff  and 
ugly.  The  genius  of  the  constructor  was,  however, 
so  true  that,  by  their  form,  by  the  well  calculated  pro- 
portions of  their  lines,  and  by  the  bold  breadth  of  their 
sweep,  the  flying-buttresses  of  Notre-Dame  are  mag- 
nificent in  daring  and  successful  originality. 

There  is  no  finer  view  of  the  Cathedral  than  that 
from  the  river  opposite  the  He-Saint-Louis.  The  lines 
of  the  great  apse  loom  in  majesty  and  power,  and  if,  in 
comparison  with  its  stately  sobriety,  the  transepts 
seem  too  ornate,  the  massive  towers  rise  in  perfect 
harmony.  The  spire,  like  the  transepts,  appears 
disproportionately  fragile,  but  its  soaring  height  adds 
markedly  to  the  architectural  perfection  of  the  im- 
posing church. 

Although  it  is  both  beautiful  and  effective,  this 
spire  is  but  lead  and  wood.  At  the  time  of  the  Cathe- 
dral's conception,  the  crossing  of  a  church  was  usually 


270 


The  Early  Gothic 


surmounted  by  a  stone  tower ;  but,  at  the  end  of  the 
XIII  century,  this  splendid  custom  was  passing  away 
and  Paris  followed  the  newer  and  poorer  style. 

The  lateral  walls  of  the 
church  have  been  sug- 
gestively described  by 
Mr.  Ferguson.  "As  orig- 
inally designed,"  he 
writes,  "they  must  have 
been  singularly  beautiful, 
for,  though  sadly  dis- 
figured by  the  insertion 
of  chapels  which  obliter- 
ate the  buttresses  and 
deprive  them  of  that 
light  and  shade  so  indis- 
pensable to  architectural 
effect,  there  yet  remains 
a  simplicity  of  outline 
and  an  elegance  in  the 
whole  form  of  the  build- 
ing which  has  not  often 
been  excelled  in  Gothic 
structures." 

If  the  last  part  of  the 
"although  it  is  roth  beautiful     quotation    savours    of    a 

AND   EFFECTIVE,  THIS  SPIRE  IS   BUT  1 .     ,    ,     1  -11         •,     • , 

slight  hyperbole,  it  is  not 

LEAD    AND    WOOD.     PARIS.  &"v         J  f 

unjustifiable,   but    any 
praise  of  the  transepts  which  was  not  measured  would 


'THE  flying-buttresses  of  notre-dame  are  magnificent  in  daring 

AND    SUCCESSFUL    ORIGINALITY." PARIS. 


271 


Paris  273 

be  inexcusably  exaggerative.  The  beauty  of  the  great 
roses,  which  lies  in  the  stained-glass  as  well  as  in  the 
design,  belongs  to  the  interior.  It  is  scarcely  necessary 
to  learn  from  the  documents  that  these  walls  were  not 
part  of  the  original  plan.  Even  from  a  distance  they 
seem  foreign  to  the  general  style  of  the  church.  They 
are  not  only  too  highly  ornamented,  but  they  are  not 
in  themselves  ideally  proportioned,  their  lines  tend  to 
the  stiff  and  formal;  and,  in  close  stud}',  it  is  easily 
discoverable  that  the  sculptures,  which  would  be  not- 
able in  a  fine  church  of  the  second  rank,  are  much 
inferior  to  those  of  the  facade. 

"There  is  no  human  work,"  writes  Viollet-le-Duc, 
"which  does  not  contain  in  itself  the  germ,  the  princi- 
ple, of  its  own  dissolution."  The  qualities  of  the 
architecture  of  the  XIII  century,  exaggerated,  became 
defects.  The  progressive  march  was  then  so  rapid 
that  the  Gothic  style,  full  of  youth  and  strength  in  the 
first  years  of  the  reign  of  Saint-Louis,  commenced  to 
fall  into  abuse  in  1260. 

"There  were  scarcely  forty  years  between  the  con- 
structions of  the  Western  facade  and  the  South  portal 
of  the  Cathedral  of  Paris;  the  great  facade  still  shows 
traces  of  Romanesque  traditions;  while  the  Southern 
portal  is  of  an  architecture  which  presages  decadence. 
From  the  end  of  the  XIII  century  there  was  no  longer — 
above  all  in  religious  architecture — that  individual 
stamp  which  characterises  each  of  the  'edifice-types' 
of  the  beginning  of  that   century.     The  broad  lines 


274  The  Early  Gothic 

and  manners  of  constructing  and  ornamenting  already 
assume  the  monotonous  aspect  which  made  archi- 
tecture an  easier  study  and  was  favourable  to  medioc- 
rity rather  than  to  genius.  One  sees  that  rules  were 
being  established  which  placed  the  art  of  architecture 
within  the  reach  of  the  most  ordinary  talent.  Every- 
thing was  foreseen,  one  form  inevitably  led  to  another. 
Reason  replaced  imagination,  logic  killed  poetry. 
But,  at  the  same  time,  execution  became  more  even, 
more  scientific,  the  choice  of  materials  was  more 
judicious.  It  seems  as  if  the  constructor's  genius, 
having  nothing  more  to  discover,  satisfied  its  need  of 
novelty  by  applying  itself  to  details.  All  parts  of  the 
architectural  structure  became  more  meagre,  sculpture 
delighted  in  the  infinitely  small.  The  sentiment  of 
real  grandeur  as  a  whole  was  lost;  the  desire  was  to 
astonish  by  boldness,  by  the  appearance  of  lightness, 
and  by  mere  contrivances.  Science  became  greater 
than  art  and  absorbed  it.  .  .  .  Sculpture  lost  its  im- 
portance, impoverished  by  the  geometric  combina- 
tions of  architecture,  .  .  .  and  architecture  .  .  . 
leaves  .  .  .  one  unmoved  before  so  much  effort  in 
which  there  is  more  reasoning  than  inspiration." 

In  the  transepts  of  Notre-Dame  the  depth  of  this 
artistic  degradation  is  approached  rather  than  reached, 
and  the  portal  of  Saint  Stephen  is  finer  than  that  of  the 
later  Northern  wall.  This  wall  was  built  in  part  during 
1 3 13  with  booty  gotten  from  the  confiscated  possessions 
of  the  Templars  and  recalls  one  of  the  most  appalling 


IN     THIS    PORTAL,     "    'ONE    SEES    THAT    RULES    WERE    BEING    ESTABLISHED, 

.     .     .     REASON      REPLACED       IMAGINATION.  BUT      AT      THE       SAME      TIME, 

EXECUTION    HAD    BECOME    MORE     EVEN,    MORE     SCIENTIFIC.'    " PARIS. 


275 


Paris  277 

scenes  which  ever  took  place  on  the  Parvise  of  Notre- 
Dame,  and  one  of  the  last  in  the  tragedy  of  the  great 
knightly  Order. 

History  has  not  solved  the  enigma  of  this  tragedy. 
With  Philip  the  Fair  as  an  accuser,  and  Pope  Clement 
V  and  his  Council  as  judges,  the  prosecution  and  the 
court  present  at  the  same  time  both  the  deepest  villany 
and  the  most  venerated  ecclesiastical  rank.  To  pecu- 
lative  souls,  the  immense  and  well-known  wealth  of 
the  accused  fraternity  was  a  tempting  spoil,  and  the 
history  of  the  human  race  would  seem  to  prove  that, 
to  the  Knights  themselves,  it  must  have  brought 
relaxations  from  a  purely  spiritual  life  and,  in  con- 
sequence, a  certain  degeneration  from  their  loftiest 
ideals. 

At  the  opening  of  the  year  13 13,  through  the  machi- 
nations of  Philip  and  the  wisdom  of  Clement  V, 
they  had  been  charged  with  vile  and  unspeakable 
corruption.  Testimony  was  extorted  from  them  by 
the  exquisite  torture  of  the  rack,  their  prestige  and 
riches  vanished  beneath  the  crushing  power  of  the 
head  of  Christendom  and  the  French  King;  their  case 
had  been  judged ;  and,  for  five  years  and  a  half,  James  de 
Molay,  the  Grand  Master  of  the  Temple,  Guy,  the  Grand 
Precentor,  a  nobleman  of  illustrious  birth,  Hugues 
de  Peralt,  the  Visitor  General  of  the  Order,  and  the 
Grand  Preceptor  of  Aquitaine,  had  lain  in  prison.  By 
mediseval  methods  it  was  not  usually  difficult — and 
with  due  time  it  was  seldom  impossible — to  force  a 


278  The  Early  Gothic 

captive  to  make  a  desired  confession,  and  one  pur- 
porting to  come  from  James  de  Molay  had  been  made 
public. 

"This  document,"  writes  Addison  in  the  "History  of 
the  Knights  Templars,"  "the  Grand  Master  .  .  . 
afterwards  disowned  and  stigmatised  as  a  forgery, 
swearing  that  if  the  Cardinals  who  had  subscribed  to 
it  had  been  of  a  different  cloth,  he  would  have  pro- 
claimed them  liars  and  would  have  challenged  them 
to  mortal  combat."  The  other  Knights  had  also  made 
confessions  which  they  had  subsequently  revoked. 
The  secrets  of  the  dark  prisons  of  these  illustrious 
Templars  have  never  been  brought  to  light,  but  on 
the  eighteenth  of  March,  13 13,  a  public  scaffold  was 
erected  before  the  Cathedral-church  of  Paris  and  the 
citizens  were  summoned  to  hear  the  Order  of  the 
Temple  convicted,  by  the  mouths  of  its  chief  officers, 
of  the  sins  and  iniquities  charged  against  it. 

Early  in  the  day  the  people  thronged  towards  the 
Parvise  and  looked  at  the  sinister  gibbet  and,  at  the 
hour  of  the  ceremony,  the  square  was  crowded.  The 
Papal  Legate  appeared  with  the  Bishop  of  Alva  and  a 
large  priestly  train;  soldiers  came  to  guard  them  from 
the  condemned,  so-called  "criminals";  and,  at  length, 
dragging  heavy  chains,  pale  and  emaciated  from  tor- 
ture, anguish  of  mind,  and  long  imprisonment,  the 
Knights  were  led  before  the  stern  prelates. 

Then,  in  a  loud  voice,  the  Bishop  of  Alva  read  their 
confessions,   and  the   Papal  Legate,   turning  towards 


Paris  279 

the  Grand  Master  and  his  companions,  called  upon  them 
to  renew  in  the  hearing  of  the  people  the  avowals  which 
they  had  previously  made  of  the  guilt  of  their  Order. 
Hugues  de  Peralt,  the  Visitor  General,  and  the  Precep- 
tor of  the  Temple  of  Aquitaine  signified  their  assent 
to  whatever  was  demanded  of  them;  but  the  Grand 
Master,  raising  his  arms,  bound  with  chains,  towards 
heaven,  and  advancing  to  the  end  of  the  scaffold,  ad- 
dressed the  awe-stricken  throng  and  boldly  courted 
death. 

He  began  by  averring  that  to  speak  untruth  was  a 
crime  in  the  sight  of  both  God  and  man.  "I  do,"  he 
continued  "confess  my  guilt,  which  consists  in  having, 
to  my  shame  and  dishonour,  through  the  pain  of  torture 
and  the  fear  of  death,  suffered  myself  to  give  utterance 
to  falsehoods,  imputing  scandalous  sins  and  iniquities 
to  an  illustrious  Order  which  hath  nobly  served  the 
cause  of  Christianity.  I  disdain  to  seek  a  wretched 
and  disgraceful  existence  by  engrafting  another  lie 
upon  the  original  falsehood." 

The  Legate,  startled  beyond  expression,  gathered 
himself  together  and  motioned  that  the  prisoner 
should  be  prevented  from  uttering  such  undesired 
sentiments;  and  Guy,  the  Grand  Preceptor,  "having 
commenced  with  strong  asseverations  of  his  innocence, 
the  Provost  and  his  officers  hurried  them  both  back  to 
prison. 

"  King  Philip  was  no  sooner  informed  of  the  result 
of  this  strange  proceeding  than,  in  the  first  impulse  of 


280  The  Early  Gothic 

his  indignation,  without  consulting  Pope  or  Bishop 
or  ecclesiastical  Council,  he  commanded  the  instant 
execution  of  both  these  gallant  noblemen.  The  same 
day,  at  dusk,  they  were  led  out  of  their  dungeons,  and 
were  burned  to  death  in  a  slow  and  lingering  manner 
upon  small  fires  of  charcoal  which  were  kindled  on 
the  little  island  in  the  Seine  between  the  King's  garden 
and  the  Convent  of  Saint  Augustine,  close  to  the  spot 
where  now  stands  the  equestrian  statue  of  Henry  IV. 

"Thus,"  concludes  Addison,  "perished  the  last 
Grand  Master  of  the  Temple." 

This  shocking  scene  had  a  milder  parallel  in  one 
whose  climax  was  also  enacted  on  the  Parvise  of  Notre- 
Dame, — the  humiliation  of  the  fallen  Count  of  Toulouse. 
It  was  1229,  and  the  long  struggle  for  the  suppression 
of  heresy  in  the  Midi,  and  incidentally  for  royal  supre- 
macy, had  ended.  Raymond  VII  was  humbled  to  the 
dust,  the  royal  suzerainty  was  firmly  established,  and 
the  Church  triumphed.  But  to  satisfy  mediaeval  vic- 
tors, degradation  had  to  be  public  as  well  as  act- 
ual. "On  Holy  Thursday,"  writes  an  old  Chronicler, 
"bare-footed  and  bare-armed,  and  naked  to  his  shirt," 
the  once  unconquerable  and  unbending  Southerner 
meekly  approached  the  door  of  Notre-Dame.  The 
Papal  Legate  stood  under  the  large  arch  of  the  portal; 
and  Raymond,  advancing,  besought  him  to  grant 
a  reconciliation  with  the  Church.  Then,  continues 
the  Chronicler,  "  it  was  sad  to  see  so  great  a  man,  who 
had  so  long  resisted  many  and  great  nations,  conducted 


Paris  281 

.  .  .  like  a  penitent  to  the  Altar  where,  in  the  presence 
of  the  dignitaries  of  Church  and  State,  he  received 
absolution."  This  act  was  portentous,  for  it  meant 
that  the  Church  was  victor  and  that  the  Holy  Inquisi- 
tion was  firmly  rooted  in  the  South. 

The  sombre  record  also  relates  that,  in  13  81,  so 
notable  a  person  as  Ambriot,  Provost  of  Paris,  con- 
demned through  the  University  for  "heresy  and  sin," 
was  led  to  the  Parvise  and  "preached  at"  before  an 
interested  audience,  and  then  led  away  to  a  cell  and 
a  diet  of  bread  and  water.  However,  all  the  cere- 
monies which  took  place  before  the  Cathedral  were 
by  no  means  penitential. 

In  1572,  six  days  before  the  massacre  of  Saint 
Bartholomew,  a  gay  couple  appeared  on  the  Parvise,  the 
jovial  Henry  of  Navarre  and  his  bride,  the  still  gayer 
Marguerite  of  Valois,  and  with  them  were  the  impas- 
sive Queen-Mother,  concealing  her  sardonic  thoughts, 
the  nobles  and  ladies  who  knew  of  the  impending 
catastrophe,  and  the  whole  court  of  France  in  brilliant 
array.  But  the  procession  halted  at  the  portals,  for 
Henry  was  a  Protestant  and  could  not  be  married 
within  the  holy  walls.  After  the  short  ceremony 
was  finished,  Marguerite  and  the  Faithful  went  in  to 
Mass;  and  the  bridegroom,  with  a  few  of  his  train, 
walked  about  the  Cloister,  and  is  said  to  have  gaped 
and  kicked  his  heels  against  the  coping  until  his  bride 
re-appeared  and  he  could  escort  her  to  the  wedding 
festivities  at  the  Louvre. 


282  The  Early  Gothic 

With  the  Cathedral  of  Paris  are  connected  also  mem- 
ories of  the  death  of  the  most  distinguished  French- 
man of  his  time,  the  great-grandson  of  Lucrezia  Borgia, 
the  nephew  of  Tasso's  Leonora,  and  supposed  to  have 
Lucrezia's  golden  hair,  if  none  of  her  more  baneful 
characteristics.  This  was  Henry  of  Guise,  "King  of 
Paris,  King  of  the  League,"  and  actually  more  powerful 
than  the  wretched  sovereign  whom  the  mocking 
Parisians  called  "Henry,  by  the  grace  of  his  mother, 
King  of  France,  man  milliner,  hair-dresser,  lover  of 
little  dogs,  and  superintendent  of  the  Capuchins." 
Yet  the  great  Duke,  Le  Balafre,  not  five  months  after 
the  Barricades  of  Paris  when  the  King  had  fled  leaving 
him  monarch  of  the  capital,  was,  in  spite  of  his  superb 
and  confident  mien,  a  desperate  man  almost  at  the  end 
of  his  resources,  almost  at  the  end  of  his  patience. 

"He  resolved,"  writes  Pasquier,  "to  play  double  or 
quits,"  to  force  the  worthless,  effeminate,  weak-minded, 
and  despised  King  virtually  to  abdicate  in  his  favour 
at  the  meeting  of  the  Estates  of  Blois.  So  to  Blois  he 
went — in  spite  of  warnings  which  poured  in  on  him 
as  they  had  poured  in  on  Coligny. 

A  friend  at  Chartres  reminded  him  "that  Henry  had 
bidden  them  kill  the  Admiral  at  all  costs  because  he 
had  played  the  King, — what  had  Guise  done?  " 

His  cousin,  Christine  of  Lorraine,  "assured  him  the 
King  would  kill  him." 

"Madame,  he  does  not  dare,"  was  the  reply;  and  to 
the  Spanish  ambassador  the  Duke  said,  "They  cannot 


Paris  283 

kill  me  except  in  the  King's  cabinet,  and" — contempt- 
uously— "  he  is  not  likely  to  keep  any  plot  so  quiet  that 
I  shall  not  know  of  it." 

And  so,  when  the  Estates  met  in  the  hall  of  the  old 
Castle  on  the  ninth  of  October,  Guise,  as  Grand  Master 
of  the  Royal  Household,  sat  on  a  stool  at  the  foot  of 
the  throne ;  and  it  was  on  him  that  all  eyes  were  fixed. 

The  Estates  had  been  ostensibly  convoked  to  assist 
the  King  in  the  matter  of  the  succession  and  in  the 
arrangement  of  administrative  reforms,  but  really  it 
sat  as  a  Court  of  Appeal  which  the  King  hoped  would 
restore  some  of  his  lost  power. 

But,  as  he  offered  concession  after  concession,  the 
League  grew  more  insolent. 

In  vain  he  appealed  to  them  "to  consider  his  quality 
and  not  to  prostrate  the  authority  of  the  crown."  At 
every  sitting  of  the  Clergy  and  the  Third  Estate, 
insults  rained  on  him;  on  holidays,  preachers  assailed 
him  from  the  pulpit;  and  Guise,  coldly  looking  on, 
said,  "I  have  no  power  to  interfere." 

As  the  year  darkened  into  winter,  the  King  left 
Guise  and  the  Estates  to  do  what  they  would  while  he 
fasted  and  prayed.  He  also  built,  in  the  story  above 
his  room,  a  row  of  cells  in  which  to  lodge  some  Capu- 
chin monks,  and  spoke  of  giving  the  reins  of  govern- 
ment to  his  mother  and  Le  Balafre  that  he  might  attend 
to  his  own  soul. 

The  people  regarded  him  as  virtually  a  monk;  and 
Le  Balafre,  seeming  to  see  royal  power  within  his  grasp, 


284  The  Early  Gothic 

became  impatient  and  lessened  that  semblance  of 
respect  he  had  hitherto  preserved,  and  the  gloom  or 
hatred  and  mistrust  spread  over  the  old  town. 

Everyone  knows  the  story  of  that  dark  December 
morning  at  Blois.  The  King,  expecting  to  go  to  pray 
at  a  Hermitage  six  miles  from  the  castle  and  return  for 
a  meeting  of  his  Council,  was  called  at  four  o'clock.  He 
rose  at  once ;  and  picking  up  the  keys  of  the  little  cells 
which  he  destined  for  the  Capuchins,  took  his  valet 
upstairs  and  locked  the  frightened  fellow  into  one  of 
the  rooms. 

Henry  then  returned  to  his  own  room,  where  his 
special  guard  of  forty-five  Gascons,  sworn  to  his  com- 
mands, were  assembling. 

As  they  stood  awaiting  his  pleasure,  he  informed 
them  that  he  had  suffered  enough,  and  that  either  he 
or  the  Guise  must  die  that  morning. 

The  forty-five  gaily  declared  that  he  could  count  on 
them. 

"Cap  de  Diou,"  called  out  one  in  his  Gascon  patois, 
familiarly  tapping  the  King's  shoulder,  "be  at  ease,  I 
will  kill  him  for  you." 

At  the  end  of  the  unholy  conference,  eight  men  armed 
with  daggers  were  stationed  in  the  royal  chamber; 
twelve  others  went  beyond  into  the  old  cabinet  or 
ante-room.  Two  chaplains  were  then  called  into  the 
adjoining  Oratory  and  prayed,  as  they  were  bidden 
to  pray,  for  "the  success  of  the  King's  undertaking," 
and  half  an  hour  later,  Henry  interrupted  them  to  beg 


Paris  285 

that  they  pray  even  more  fervently  as  "the  hour  was 
come."  But,  in  the  interval  they  had  peeped  into 
the  cabinet  and  had  seen  two  Gascons  dancing: — one 
flourishing  a  naked  dagger  and  the  other  crying  that 
"when  it  was  done  he  could  be  thrown  out  of  the 
window." 

Guessing  that  the  man  spoke  of  Guise,  the  horror- 
stricken  priests  returned  to  their  devotions,  this  time 
praying  that  the  King's  heart  might  be  changed. 

In  the  meantime  Henry  wandered  nervously  to 
and  fro,  and  begged  the  guardsmen  to  take  care  the 
Duke  did  not  hurt  them. 

As  the  King  was  not  in  the  Council  Room,  Guise, 
whose  gray  satin  suit  was  too  thin  for  the  wet  Decem- 
ber morning,  shivered  by  the  open  fire  which  was 
kindled  for  his  benefit,  and  talked  with  his  brother,  the 
Cardinal,  with  the  Archbishop  of  Lyons,  Rambouillet, 
and  others;  and  then  sent  his  secretary  to  bring  the 
handkerchief  and  comfit -box  he  had  forgotten. 

This  slight  act  almost  saved  his  life.  Returning 
with  the  silver  shell,  the  secretary  was  not  allowed 
to  enter.  This  startled  him.  Immediately  he  tried  to 
see  the  Duke's  young  son,  but  the  boy  was  going  to 
breakfast  with  the  King's  nephew  and  laughingly  ran 
away.  The  poor  secretary  could  only  burn  his  master's 
papers,  hastily  warn  his  mother,   and  await  events. 

Meanwhile  the  Duke,  summoned  to  the  King's 
bedside,  passed  into  the  next  room  and  the  door  was 
instantly  closed  behind  him. 


286  The  Early  Gothic 

The  guardsmen,  saluting  respectfully,  followed  him 
closely,  and  as  he  turned  to  find  the  meaning  of  this 
unusual  attendance,  their  daggers  were  in  his  breast, 
throat,  and  side.  He  tried  to  draw  his  sword — it  was 
caught  in  his  cloak.  He  succeeded,  however,  in  drag- 
ging three  of  his  assailants  across  the  room.  Then, 
dropping  at  the  foot  of  Henry's  bed,  he  gasped,  "I 
am  betrayed.     God  have  mercy  on  me." 

The  King  peeped  cautiously  from  behind  the  cur- 
tains. 

"  Is  it  done?"  he  whimpered;  and,  if  the  Duke's  keen 
ear  was  not  yet  deafened,  he  must  have  caught  that 
faint,  awful  echo  of  his  own  voice  floating  to  him 
across  the  space  of  fifteen  troubled  years. 

Coming  closer  to  the  body  Henry  muttered,  "I  did 
not  know  he  was  so  tall." 

At  the  sound  of  the  scuffle  and  the  fall,  the  Cardinal 
and  the  Archbishop  had  tried  to  go  to  Guise's  aid, 
but  they  were  not  permitted  to  enter  the  King's  room. 
Shortly  afterward,  de  Lognac  came  in  with  the  informa- 
tion that  "the  Duke  had  been  very  hard  to  kill,"  and 
the  two  great  priests  were  arrested. 

Then  Henry  went  to  tell  his  mother;  for,  as  she  was 
ill,  none  had  ventured  to  explain  the  cause  of  the  noise 
overhead. 

"  I  feel  better,"  she  said. 

" So  do  I,"  answered  her  son,  "this  morning  I  became 
King  of  France,  the  King  of  Paris  is  dead." 

The  forty-five  Gascons  having  trooped  away,  joking 


Paris  287 

and  laughing,  the  two  priests  stole  into  the  royal  room. 
The  valet  was  mopping  up  the  floor.  Seeing  the  holy 
men,  he  drew  back  the  piece  of  tapestry  with  which 
someone  had  covered  the  dead  body  and  placed  a 
handful  of  straw,  twisted  into  a  cross,  on  the  Duke's 
breast.  As  the  priests  looked  at  the  pale  face  whose 
habitual  serenity  was  not  distorted  by  the  violence  of 
his  death,  they  murmured  a  hasty  De  Profundis,  and 
these  were  the  only  funeral  rites ;  for  the  body  of  the 
murdered  Duke  with  that  of  his  brother,  the  Cardinal 
de  Guise,  who  was  killed  next  day,  were  either  buried 
in  quicklime  or  burned  in  the  furnaces  of  the  castle. 

"Henry  III,"  writes  MacDowall,  "discovered  too 
late  that  his  rival  was  more  formidable  in  death  than 
in  life" ;  and  as  soon  as  it  became  evident  that  the  King 
was  incapable  of  following  up  his  crime  with  the  neces- 
sary energy,  the  general  consternation  produced  by  the 
news  of  the  murder  was  succeeded  by  uncontrolled 
fury. 

The  whole  city  of  Paris  went  into  mourning,  and  day 
and  night  the  churches  were  crowded  with  congrega- 
tions who  replied  in  a  chorus  of  sympathetic  hoots  and 
imprecations  to  the  preachers'  denunciations  of  the 
crime.  Portraits  of  the  two  brothers,  "martyrs  for 
Jesus  and  the  public  weal,"  were  placed  on  the  Altars, 
and  the  Sorbonne  declared  the  King's  subjects  released 
from  their  oath  of  allegiance. 

Finally,  on  a  cold  New  Year's  Eve,  a  long  procession 
of  protesting  citizens  wound  through  the  dark  streets, 


288  The  Early  Gothic 

the  flames  and  smoke  of  their  lighted  torches  filled 
these  narrow  ways  with  strange  and  fearful  shadows, 
and  to  those  who  peeped  from  the  upper  windows,  the 
line  of  the  march  seemed  unending.  At  length  the 
procession  reached  the  bridge  of  the  lie  de  la  Cite, 
crossed  it,  and  quietly  massed  in  front  of  the  looming 
facade  of  the  Cathedral. 

There  was  absolute  silence.  First  one  and  then 
another  of  the  flaming  torches  were  extinguished  upon 
the  sacred  threshold  of  the  church,  until  the  surging 
mass  of  people  could  be  but  dimly,  confusedly  seen  in 
the  large  square.  Then,  as  the  last  torch  went  out, 
from  the  darkness  of  the  night,  from  the  depth  of  this 
surging  mass,  rose  an  awful  cry  to  the  God  Who  dwelt 
within  the  walls  of  the  great  Cathedral,  "  Thus — thus — ■ 
may  the  House  of  Valois  be  extinguished ! ' ' 

Under  the  trees  of  the  historic  Parvise,  in  front  of 
the  Hotel-Dieu,  there  are  now  a  few  wooden  benches, 
where  one  can  sit  very  restfully  and  look  up  at  the 
big,  dark  facade.  The  Traveller,  for  whom  the  sombre 
majesty  of  this  old  wall  has  a  mysterious  charm,  had 
found  a  convenient  corner  on  one  of  the  benches  and 
was  trying  to  sketch  details  which  he  might  later  be 
glad  to  have  for  memory's  sake.  As  he  awkwardly 
tried  to  force  his  pencil  to  make  the  necessary  lines,  he 
was  led  from  thought  to  thought;  and  he  wondered 
how  many  of  the  hundreds  who  daily  go  in  and  out  the 
Cathedral  had  studied  the  wide  differences  which  exist 
between  portions  that   are  well  within  the  range  of 


2»9 


Paris  291 

everybody's  vision,  the  first  story  of  the  three  portals. 
Even  the  statues  on  the  door-piers  are  as  different  and 
as  interesting  as  people.  In  the  Southern  door,  there 
is  a  long,  attenuated  figure  of  Saint-Marcel,  almost  as 
archaic  as  his  story.  This  holy  Bishop  lived  in  a  time 
when  animals  which  are  now  extinct — or  live  only  in 
allegorical  form — were  common,  a  period  when  Europe 
was  infested  with  gigantic  and  heathen  beasts,  the 
"  gargouille "  of  Rouen,  the  "tarasque"  whose  effigy 
may  still  be  seen  at  Tarascon,  and  the  "dragon"  of 
Paris  whose  likeness  is  reproduced  on  the  pedestal  of 
the  statue.  Like  Saint  Martha  and  Saint  George, 
Saint-Marcel  overcame  this  scourge  of  his  diocese,  and 
triumphantly  thrust  the  end  of  the  episcopal  crook 
into  his  mouth;  and  in  gratitude,  the  devotees  of  the 
XII  century  built,  to  his  honour,  this  fine  and  rather 
Byzantine  memorial. 

The  statues  of  the  door-piers,  of  a  later  date,  exem- 
plify the  artistic  power  and  the  religious  spirit  of  the 
sculpture  of  the  XIII  century.  Although  the  Christ  of 
the  middle  door  does  not  typify  so  lofty  an  ideal  as  the 
"  Beautiful  God  of  Amiens ' '  and  has  a  far  less  appealing 
personality  than  the  grave  Christ  of  Reims,  His  ex- 
pression possesses  ascetic  dignity  and  strength,  His 
figure  is  well  proportioned,  and  the  draperies,  if  stiff, 
have  no  traces  of  archaism. 

The  Virgin  before  the  Northern  doorway  holds  the 
Infant  Jesus  on  her  arm  and  a  rose  in  her  hand,  and 
below  her  feet  peers  the  woman-head  of  the  serpent. 


292 


The  Early  Gothic 


This  Virgin  is  the  Queen-Mother,  that  serene  and  wise 
Protectress  towards  whom  the  XIII  century  aspired; 
and  to  judge  how  much  nobler  this  grave  conception 


"the    virgin    before  the  northern  doorway  .   .   . 

IS  the  queen-mother,  the  serene  and  wise 

protectress  towards    WHOM    THE     XIII 

CENTURY  ASPIRED." PARIS. 

is  than  that  of  following  centuries,  it  is  only  necessary 
to  compare  it  with  the  later  statue  of  a  light-hearted  and 
light-headed  young  woman  which  stands  near  the  High 
Altar  of  the  Cathedral  and  is  called  "  Our  Lady  of  Paris." 


Paris 


293 


The  pedestal  of  the  Queen- Mother  of  the  portal 
represents,  with  beautiful  harmony  of  composition, 
scenes  from  the  lives  of  our  first  parents.  Above  her 
crowned  head  two  angels  hold  a  royal  dais,  and  her 
glorious  position  in  the  redemption  of  a  world  and  in 
the  sight  of  heaven  is  still  further  emphasised  by  the 
Ark  of  the  Covenant  which  rests  upon  the  dais.  This 
holy  Ark,  often  used  by  mediaeval  artists,  usually 
appears  in  windows  and  in  scenes  from  the  Old  Testa- 
ment; but  here  it  has  a  symbolic  meaning.  It  is 
placed,  as  it  were,  between  the  Old  and  the  New 
Dispensation,  and  to  the  people  of  the  Middle  Ages  it 
was  full  of  profound  religious  significance. 

From  the  distance  at  which  he  sat,  many  of  these 
details  were  barely  suggested  to  the  Traveller,  but  he 
saw  clearly  that  the  central  portal  seemed  a  little  more 
obese  than  the  others,  and  he  recollected  with  amuse- 
ment that  its  form  had  been  changed  in  the  XVIII 
century.  During  five  hundred  years,  it  had  been  large 
enough  to  admit  processions  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament, 
many  reverend  prelates,  and  generations  of  Kings,  but 
Louis  XV  did  not  find  it  sufficiently  broad  to  admit  his 
decadent  majesty  and  his  equally  decadent  Court — 
therefore,  it  was  promptly  widened. 

Unlike  the  re-cutting  of  the  doors  of  Saint-Gervais- 
et-Saint-Protais  of  Soissons,  this  effort  of  the  XVIII 
century  at  Paris  brought  little  harm  to  the  earlier 
conception,  and  the  portal  still  stands  very  much  as  its 
builders  planned  it.     Attendant  upon  the  Christ  on  the 


294  The  Early  Gothic 

dividing  pier  are  His  twelve  Apostles  who  fill  the  side 
walls  of  the  arch.  These  huge  statues  rest  on  pedes- 
tals which  are  held  by  bent,  caryatid-like  figures;  and, 
below  the  figures,  there  are  a  row  of  frames  and  a  row 
of  medallions  which  contain  symbols  of  the  times  and 
the  seasons ;  and  these  in  turn  are  sustained  by  a  base 
of  richly  carved,  tapestried  stone. 

Although  they  are  strong  figures,  the  Apostles  do 
not  show  the  skilful  differentiation  nor  the  fineness  of 
execution  of  those  at  Amiens  and  the  portal's  greatest 
detail  is  its  tympanum.  The  subject  is  the  usual  one, 
poignantly  depicted, — the  Last  Judgment.  Christ,  im- 
passive as  justice,  accompanied  by  His  kneeling  Mother, 
by  Saint  John  and  two  Angels,  is  rendering  the  last, 
awful  decree.  Beneath  His  feet  lies  heaven,  a  mediae- 
val castle;  and  before  a  soul  can  enter  there,  it  must  be 
weighed  by  an  Angel  assisted  by  a  devil.  With  habitual 
trickery,  a  satellite  of  the  Evil  One  is  slyly  clinging  to 
his  side  of  the  scale,  and  the  jeopardised  soul,  in 
terror,  is  trying  to  climb  out  of  the  balance.  On  one 
side  of  the  scene,  the  lost  are  being  driven  into  Hell. 
On  the  other  side,  a  procession  of  the  Elect,  looking 
heavenward,  are  marching  to  everlasting  joys.  Be- 
neath, two  Angels  are  blowing  the  last  trump  and  a 
group  of  the  dead  are  responding  to  the  call.  Pushing 
aside  the  stones  which  have  lain  above  them,  a  Crusa- 
der, a  Queen,  a  Bishop,  and  many  others  are  solemnly 
and  fearfully  emerging  to  be  judged. 

At  Chartres,  Amiens,   Reims,  and  Bordeaux,  writes 


Paris  295 

Viollet-le-Duc,  the  compositions  of  this  subject  "are 
far  from  equal  to  that  of  Notre-Dame  of  Paris."  In 
some  of  the  former,  "the  dramatic  sentiment  is  exag- 
gerated ;  in  others  the  groups  are  confused,  the  damned 
grimacing,  and  the  demons  ridiculous  rather  than 
alarming."  At  Paris,  even  the  watching  Angels  in 
the  vaulting  seem  anxious  and  interested,  and  the 
scene — particularly  the  resurrection  of  the  body  and 
the  apparent  re-awakening  of  the  intelligence  —  is 
portrayed  with  powerful  and  vital  sincerity. 

The  portal  of  Saint- Anne  was  chiefly — and  skilfully 
— composed  from  fragments  of  an  earlier  door.  In 
general  perspective  it  forms  an  harmonious  part  of  the 
first  story,  but  in  detail,  it  is  more  archaic;  its  Saints 
are  reminiscently  Byzantine,  and,  although  they  have 
been  assembled  with  a  due  sense  of  proportion  and  are 
curiously  interesting,  the  subjects  of  the  tympanum 
are  too  numerous  and  too  closely  packed  in  the  limits 
of  the  arch.  Sculptured  with  less  dramatic  force  than 
the  central  door,  this  portal  represents  the  art  of  the 
XII  century  as  well  as  the  larger  doorway  portrays 
that  of  a  hundred  years  later. 

In  the  judgment  of  experts,  the  Virgin's  portal  is 
artistically  stronger  than  either  of  the  others.  'The 
sculpture  of  this  door,"  writes  the  author  of  the  great 
Architectural  Dictionary,  "is  original  in  character, 
and  we  know  nothing  else  of  this  epoch  which  can  be 
compared  to  it  in  grandeur  of  composition  and  beauty 
of  execution."     The    flowing  draperies   of    its  Angels 


296 


The  Early  Gothic 


are  natural  and  graceful,  its  Saints  might  have  been 
studied  from  living  models,   and  the  subjects  of  the 

tympanum  and  all 
its  details  are  con- 
c  e  i  v  e  d  with  ad- 
mirable  clear- 
ness, power,  and 
proportion. 

Thinking   all 
these    things,    the 
Traveller     contin- 
ued    his    little 
sketches.   He  tried 
to  draw  the  figures 
of  the  Church  and 
the      Synagogue, 
the  monk  and  the 
Bishop,     which 
stand  in  the  niches 
of   the   four  great 
buttresses      that 
flank    the    walls. 
Then  his  eyes  wan- 
dered to   the  long 
row  of  Kings  that 
stand    in    dignified   poses    between    the    columns    of 
their  portico.     Surmounting  the  strong  stone  roofing 
of    this   portico,    is    a   narrow,   open  terrace.     Above 
the    centre    of    its    balustrade,    in    front   of    the    rose 


"adam,   bowed   with  thought  and  respon- 
sibility."  PARIS. 


Paris 


297 


window,  have  been  placed  the  figures  of  the  Mother 
and  Child  guarded  by  two  Angels,  and  before  the  Gothic 
windows  on  either  side  of  the  rose,  there  are  large 
statues  of  our  first  parents.  Our  Lady  and  the  Angels 
form  a  conventional  group;  but  the  two  solitary 
statues,  Eve,  young  and  abashed,  and  Adam,  bowed 
with  thought  and  responsibility,  are  so  finely  and 
strongly  carven 
that  to  climb  the 
narrow  staircase  of 
the  tower  to  the 
high  terrace  will 
amply  repay  the 
student  of  medi- 
aeval statuary. 

Above  the  ter- 
race  and  the 
Gothic  windows 
and  the  rose,  there 
is  a  very  tall  and 
ornate  gallery 
which,  uniting  the  towers,  also  hides  their  first  stages  and 
the  pinnacle  of  the  nave.  Still  higher  is  another  terrace 
and  the  low  balustrade  whose  "chimerical  beasts"  and 
birds  and  demons  the  Traveller  could  just  distinguish ; 
and  from  this  stage  rise  the  two  towers. 

The  mere,  cold  analysis  of  a  fine  construction  seems 
a  thankless  task.  That  the  whole  is  composed  of  its 
parts  is  a  truism,  but  the  gigantic  mass  is  not  solely  a 


CHIMERICAL    BEASTS. 


298  The  Early  Gothic 

collection  of  properly  disposed  portals,  windows,  and 
galleries.  Like  every  great  work,  it  is  also  pervaded 
by  spirit.  Here  lies  the  force  of  the  XII  century,  and 
Notre-Dame  seems  filled  with  the  earnest  and  still 
sombre  faith  which  emerged  from  the  terrors  of  the 
year  1000.  Although  its  construction  took  place  be- 
tween 1208  and  1223,  this  Western  front  presages  lit- 
tle of  the  elegance  and  lightness  of  the  XIII  and  XIV 
centuries, — it  is  rather  a  grave  and  reverend  monument. 

The  Traveller  had  a  post  card  of  the  facade,  and  was 
trying  to  aid  his  imagination,  trying  to  decide  whether 
the  addition  of  the  stone  "needles"  which  the  early 
architects  had  planned  would  have  added  essentially 
to  the  symmetry  of  the  Cathedral.  A  voice  startled 
his  lazy  reveries. 

"Would  the  intrusion  of  an  old — a  very  old — man 
be  pardoned  ? ' ' 

At  this  tentative  remark,  the  Traveller  turned  and 
saw  that  a  newcomer  was  seated  on  the  bench,  a  short, 
slender,  alert  man  of  fifty-five  or  sixty,  with  a  pleasant 
mouth  and  dark  eyes,  and  the  clear-cut  face,  the 
moustache,  and  the  imperial  of  a  Frenchman  of  the 
Second  Empire.  Later,  the  Traveller  noticed  that 
the  tightly  buttoned  frock-coat  had  a  number  of  small, 
neat  darns. 

"  I  have  been  here  quite  twenty  minutes, — the  Cathe- 
dral is  closed — and  after  five,  I  always  rest  for  an  hour 
or  two  on  one  of  the  benches.  Yet  I  will  not  say  that 
I  came  to  this  particular  seat  without  purpose, — I  saw 


NOTRE-DAME     SEEMS     FILLED     WITH     THE     EARNEST     AND     STILL     SOMBRE 
FAITH     WHICH     EMERGED     FROM      THE     TERRORS      OF     THE 
YEAR     IOOO.  " PARIS. 


299 


Paris  301 

you  as  I  went  in  at  two,  you  were  then  looking  at 
Notre-Dame, — I  come  out  at  five  and  spy  you  again — 
with  a  pencil.  'An  artist!'  I  say  to  myself,  'perhaps, 
or  perhaps  not,  with  a  soul.' — By  way  of  parenthesis 
I  will  say  that  I  prefer  them  without. — So  I  could  not 
resist  coming  over.  You  do  not  perceive  of  my  exis- 
tence— I  wait — and,  I  will  confess  it,  I  steal  deliberately 
a  sight  of  the  sketches,  for  twenty  minutes  I  eaves- 
drop and  enjoy.  You  did  not  seem  like  an  artist — ' 
the  man  grew  confused. 

"I  mean,"  he  began  again,  "that  is — one  can  see 
that  you  are  not — well,  not  manually  an  artist.  There- 
fore, one  who  makes  sketches  and  is  not  of  the  profes- 
sion must  draw  because  one  feels  the  beauty  of  the 
subject,  and  who  thus  sketches — parbleu !  must  love 
the  subject.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  I  could  not 
help  speaking." 

He  paused  a  moment,  the  two  looked  inquiringly 
at  each  other,  and  the  Traveller  wondered  if  this  were 
a  learned  vagabond,  a  clever  beggar,  or  a  harmless  old 
gentleman. 

He  continued,  "It  is  a  very  great  church  indeed,  a 
very  great  church, — although  few  who  have  travelled 
days  to  come  here  have  hours  to  spend  in  it.  Twenty- 
five  years  have  I  lived  in  trying  to  show  its  beauties 
to  the  maddening — and  I  sometimes  think  the  mad — 
stranger.  What  is  it  that  the  Eastern  poet  says, 
'  They  come  like  water,  and  like  wind  they  go '  ? " 

"  You  are  a  guide?"  the  Traveller  asked. 


302  The  Early  Gothic 

"Yes,"  the  little  man  shrugged  his  shoulders  and 
rubbed  his  thin,  shrivelled  hands,  "at  least,  between 
nine  and  five  I  am  a  guide.  Then,  for  a  couple  of 
hours,  I  am  a  dreamer. — I  impede  your  work?" 

"Not  at  all,"  answered  the  Traveller,  "I  am  a 
bit  of  a  dreamer  myself,  and,  at  times,  I  find  much 
pleasure  in  speaking  to  another." 

"Ah  yes — but  you  may  perhaps  choose  your  hearers, 
while  I!  I  must  be  thankful  for  the  franc  of  a  beer- 
seller.  There  are  many  of  us  about  the  Par  vise  of 
Notre-Dame ! ' ' 

"Yet,"  said  the  Traveller,  "after  these  years  the 
people  must  know  you.", 

"That  is  truly  a  great  help,"  the  old  man  answered 
quickly,  "to  be  well  received  is  a  great  help.  But  I, 
unfortunately  perhaps,  have  the  mania  of  my  pro- 
fession, I  am  getting  old,  and  sometimes  I  forget  my 
globe-trotter  and  my  beer-seller.  I  am  impressed  by 
the  serenity  of  the  Queen-Mother,  the  tranquil  practi- 
cality of  the  Virgin  of  the  North  transept,  and — may 
she  pardon  me! — the  pretty  inanity  of  Our  Lady  of 
Paris.  I  attempt  to  show  these  interesting  character 
studies  to  my  clients — pouf!  They  throw  one  a  fee, 
it  is  true — but  I  am  left  to  myself,  standing  alone  in 
the  middle  of  my  tale ! ' ' 

He  paused.  "  I  see  my  folly  and  the  humour  of  it, 
yet — to  one  who  cares  it  is  a  little  desolating." 

"  I  sympathise  with  you  deeply,"  said  the  Traveller, 
"but  do  you    not   sometimes    feel   discouraged?     Do 


Paris  303 

you  never  copy  other  guides  and  say  things  by 
rote?" 

The  man  sighed.  "  I  am  not  always  so  stupid  as 
to  read  Viollet-le-Duc  to  a  fashionable  visitor,  but  I 
could  not  turn  myself  into  a  parrot  for  seven  hours  of 
every  day.  Besides,  my  moods  change  as  well  as  my 
clients.  Some  days  it  is  a  detail  which  amuses  me, 
sometimes  I  am  overwhelmed  by  the  majesty  of  the 
whole.  At  times,  the  comparative  conventionality  of 
the  transepts  displeases  me;  at  other  moments  I  am 
ravished  by  the  flying-buttresses  of  the  apse — and  I 
linger  according  to  my  visitor  and  my  mood." 

"I  must  confess,"  said  the  Traveller,  who  was  be- 
ginning to  be  much  interested,  "that  I  am  delighted  to 
have  met  a  man  who  confesses  to  a  mania  for  the 
Cathedral  and  a  habit  of  dreaming  dreams.  There  is 
a  question  I  have  wanted  to  ask  just  such  a  person." 

"Ask  it,"  said  the  old  man  simply,  but  with  a 
glimmer  of  eager   interest. 

"Well,"  said  the  Traveller,  "I  have  often  put  this 
question  to  my  friends,  but,  as  a  rule,  it  has  not  greatly 
interested  them.  The  facade  of  Notre-Dame  was  once 
painted,  was  it  more — or  less — beautiful  ? ' ' 

"Ah!"  cried  the  old  man  in  genuine  distress,  "I 
truly  think  you  could  have  catechised  me  with  nine 
hundred  and  ninety-nine  questions  and  I  should  have 
replied, — but  this  is  the  thousandth.  Yes,  I  have  sat 
on  this  very  bench  many  times  and  tried  to  picture 
the  sight, — the  three  portals  with  their  vaultings  and 


304  The  Early  Gothic 

their  tympana  entirely  painted  and  gilded,  those  four 
niches  of  the  buttresses  and  their  four  colossal  statues 
also  painted,  and  we  know  that  black  and  reddish  brown 
— rich,  majestic  colours — were  used.  Then,  too,  the 
Gallery  of  the  Kings  was  gilded,  the  pointed  arches 
of  the  Gothic  windows  were  painted,  the  great  rose 
glittered  with  gold,  and  the  roofs  were  brilliant  with 
colour.  That  much  we  know — but  how  it  looked! 
'Chromo,'  say  the  light-headed.  'Beautiful,'  protest 
the  Faithful  who  believe  that  even  the  dust  on  a 
church  is  holy.     As  for  me — "  he  hesitated. 

"In  principle,"  said  the  Traveller  tentatively,  "I 
dislike  the  painting  of  Gothic  architecture.  Solid  col- 
ouring and  even  frescoes,  as  we  see  them  in  so 
many  chapels,  are  to  my  eye  ugly  and  inharmonious." 

"  I  also  am  of  the  same  opinion,"  replied  the  old  man. 
"  It  is  disfiguring — it  is  like  the  blot  of  sin.  But 
whether  in  the  case  of  this  facade,  it  was  a  magnificent 
sin — I  have  been  unable  to  decide." 

They  sat  in  silence  for  a  few  moments. 

"My  misfortune — or  my  fortune — ",  he  soliloquised, 
"  has  been  to  read  too  much  about  the  church." 

His  expressive  face  lightened  and  he  nodded  his 
head  energetically.  "Do  you,  for  instance,  know  of 
Biscornet?  Ah,  now  that  is  quite  interesting.  In  the 
XIV  century  there  was  a  man  by  the  name  of  Biscornet, 
a  locksmith,  and  he  was  commanded  to  forge  the  iron 
for  the  doors  of  the  Cathedral.  Like  many  stupid 
people,  Biscornet  was  both  ambitious  and  incapable, 


vtii^H    rbirfw   r.i   IstbsdlBi  t*riT ' 

".banwoio  26w  VI 


those  four 

ck  and  brown 

l,  too,  the 
he  pointed 
were  paint  rose 

\Tere  brilliant  with 
it  how  it  loo 
lutiful,'  prf- 
en  the  dust  on  a 
'  he  hesitated. 

itively, 

"  The   cathedral   in   which    Henry 
IV  was  crowned." 

Chartres 

But 
nagnill 

:   oquised, 

he  nodded  his 
"Do  v  of 

In  the 

ivike  n  upid 

ible, 


Paris  305 

and,  also,  he  was  cunning.  He  made  many  plans  and 
combinations,  but  he  never  succeeded  in  designing 
anything  that  could  bring  him  fame.  Finally,  as  he 
was  drawing  and  fretting  in  his  dark,  little  shop,  he 
bethought  himself  of  the  Devil  who  is  both  talented  and 
ambitious;  and  in  a  moment  of  awful  temerity  he 
called  for  aid;  and  Satan  promptly  responded.  At 
the  end  of  their  interview  the  locksmith  had  signed 
a  contract,  in  which  he  agreed  to  sell  his  soul  for 
a  masterpiece  of  iron- work  which  the  Devil  promised 
to  forge. 

"Accordingly,  the  two,  Biscornet  and  the  Devil, 
began  to  work;  and,  in  due  time,  the  lateral  doors 
were  placed  on  their  hinges.  Biscornet  commenced  to 
dread  his  fate — but  he  persisted.  The  Devil,  on  the 
contrary,  began  to  shrivel  up  and  to  tremble.  At  the 
sight  of  the  central  portal,  the  door  through  which  the 
Blessed  Sacrament  is  taken  to  and  from  the  Cathedral, 
he  became  powerless  and  fled.  The  contract  was, 
therefore,  void,  the  Church  was  enriched,  the  locksmith 
had  learned  new  secrets  of  the  art  and  still  had  his 
soul — and  there  are  all  the  doors ! 

"Ah!"  he  continued,  "perhaps  even  you  do  not 
know  how  many  stories,  how  many  strange  things, 
how  many  interesting  little  tales  and  details  lurk  about 
the  corners  of  Notre-Dame." 

"I  am  quite  sure  of  that,"  said  the  Traveller,  "but 
I  could  wish  that  I  did." 

'Truly?      Very     truly?"      The     old     man's    eyes 


306  The  Early  Gothic 

sparkled.  "  But — "  he  drew  suddenly  back,  "but  you 
shall  be  no  client,  I,  no  guide.  Can  we  not  be  as  the 
title  of  the  English  book — 'friendly  vessels  hailing  as 
they  pass  in  the  night '  ?  " 

"By  all  means,"  the  Traveller  answered,  "let  us 
join  that  goodly  company  of  friendly  'ships." 

"Then  it  is  agreed,"  the  old  man  said  with  a  sigh  of 
content,  "and  I  shall  read  to  you  a  quaint  bit  I  brought 
along  to-day  thinking  to  read  it  over  again.  It  is 
rather  long, — but  it  is  about  the  Evil  One  and,  perhaps 
consequently,  not  too  dull.  It  is  Monsieur  Viollet-le- 
Duc  who  wrote  it!  What  a  man!  Only  a  demi-god 
of  an  architect,  they  say,  because  not  always  absolutely 
correct,  not  always  a  wise  creator — but  such  a  demi-god ! 
We  have  the  amiable  Bourasse,  Lassus,  Gonse, — but 
no  greater  things  have  been  written  about  Gothic 
art  than  those  that  are  found  among  the  necessary 
commonplaces  of  the  'Dictionary.'" 

Drawing  an  old  wallet  from  an  inside  pocket,  he 
carefully  took  from  it  a  piece  of  paper  which  was 
covered  with  fine  handwriting,  placed  a  pair  of  black- 
rimmed  spectacles  upon  his  nose,  and  began  to  read 
in  an  emphatic  but  charmingly  modulated  voice. 

'  Devils  appear  ...  in  parables  and  legends,  as, 
for  example,  in  the  parable  of  the  bad  and  wealthy 
man,  and  in  the  legends  of  Saint  Antony  and  Saint 
Benedict,  who  had,  say  these  legends,  a  great  deal  to 
do  with  the  Devil.  .  .  .  During  the  Romanesque 
epoch  he  is  a  being  whom  sculptors  represent  as  terri- 


IN    THE    SCULPTURES    OF    THE     XIII   CENTURY,    .    .    .    SATAN 
DEPRAVED    AND    LESS    ALARMING." PARIS. 


30  7 


Paris 


309 


ble  and  terrifying,  who  plays  the  part  of  a  power  with 
whom  no  liberties  may  be  taken.  Among  the  sculp- 
tors of  the  XIII  century,  the  spirit  of  Gallic  wit  begins 
to  appear.  Satan  takes  on  a  less  frightful  character; 
he  is  often  funny;  his  character  is  more  depraved 
and  less  alarming;  his  physiognomy  is  ironical  rather 
than  savage  or  cruel.  Sometimes  he  is  a  trickster, 
often  he  himself  is  duped.  The  scene  of  the  weighing 
of  souls,  which  occupies  a  prominent  place  in  the 
drama  of  the  Last  Judgment,  shows  us  a  Devil  who 
pulls  the  balance  down  on  his  own  side.  The  demons 
who  accompany  the  damned  seem  to  rail  at  the  unhappy 
flock  dragged  into  Hell ;  some  of  these  subalterns  of  the 
army  of  darkness  have  at  times  an  air  of  brutal  good- 
nature which  suggests  a  possibility  of  purchasable 
favours.  However,  as  a  whole,  the  infernal  scenes 
sculptured  at  the  beginning  of  the  XIII  century  have 
always  a  dramatic  effect  which  is  moving.  In  the 
central  doorway  of  the  Cathedral  of  Paris,  for  instance, 
all  that  part  to  the  left  of  Christ,  occupied  by  demons 
and  the  souls  delivered  to  them,  is  sculptured  by  a 
master-hand,  and  some  episodes  are  rendered  touch- 
ingly.  .  .  .  Consider  the  chief  Devil;  he  is  crowned;  his 
waist  encircled  by  a  serpent;  he  is  seated  on  a  heap  of 
persons  among  whom  are  a  Bishop  and  a  King.  Beside 
him,  scenes  of  disorder,  confusion,  and  despair  are 
represented  .  .  .  with  a  truly  remarkable  energy  and 
talent  of  execution.  .  .  .  From  the  end  of  the  XIII 
century,  the   Devil,   in   sculpture   and   painting,   loses 


IO 


The  Early  Gothic 


much  of  his  ferocity  of  character;  he  is  relegated  to 
the  rear.  In  many  legends  remade  at  this  epoch  he 
is  the  dupe  of  pious  fraud,  as  in  the  celebrated  legend 
of  the  monk  Theophilus  and  that  of  the  locksmith 
Biscornet.' 

"  I  have  learned 
that  passage," 
said  the  old  man, 
taking  off  his  spec- 
tacles, "but  I  do 
not  know  it  accu- 
rately, in  sequence 
— because  I  repeat 
to  my  clients  only 
so  much  as  I 
think  will  interest 
them.  But  I  like 
it  all.  It  gave  me 
a  veritable  taste 
for  Devils,  and  a 
taste  which  of 
late  years  I  have  been  able  to  cultivate." 
The  Traveller  looked  up  in  astonishment. 
His  companion  laughed.  "Ah, — in  harmless  post- 
cards! It  is  the  invention  of  the  illustrated  card 
which  has  allowed  me  this  little  extravagance — and 
perhaps  saved  me  from  many  another!  Because  he 
who  is  the  servant  of  one  Cathedral  and  hears  of 
others  acquires  the  desire  to  see — to  travel — to  com- 


"the  angel"  of  THE  ROOFS. PARIS 


Paris  311 

pare.  One  morning  a  gentleman  came  to  Notre-Dame 
with  a  permission  to  mount  to  the  roofs,  he  took  me 
with  him,  and  we  spent  hours  among  the  animals  and 
the  buttresses.  It  was  a  very  happy  day  for  me  until 
late  in  the  afternoon.  Then  we  sat  down  on  a  chapel 
roof,  and,  in  return  for  my  tales  of  Notre-Dame,  he  told 
of  a  Cathedral  at  Beauvais.  As  Hugues  Capet  was 
to  Charlemagne,  as  the  Virgin  of  Cluny  is  to  our 
Queen-Mother,  or  as  tapestry  to  cloth  of  gold,  so,  by 
a  hundred  similes,  was  Notre-Dame  of  Paris  to 
Saint- Pierre  of  Beauvais.  The  desire  to  see  that 
church  entered  like  molten  fire  into  my  veins  and  I 
began  to  inquire  of  visitors, — almost  none  knew  it. 
I  haunted  the  quais,  where  there  are  often  prints  of 
Cathedrals.  I  went  even  to  the  windows  of  many 
big  picture  shops — in  vain!  In  the  meantime,  I 
wasted  much  time,  and  money  was  scarce' — -but 
the  desire  consumed  me, — and  I  made  a  violent 
resolution . ' ' 

Here  the  old  guide  put  one  hand  over  the  Traveller's 
sketch-book  and,  with  the  other,  pointed  dramatically 
to  himself. 

"  I — yes,  I — would  go  to  Beauvais.  It  was  not 
accomplished  in  a  day;  but  when  I  had  saved  twelve 
francs,  I  packed  a  basket  with  a  bottle  of  wine  and 
some  bread  and  cheese,  and,  as  I  went  out,  I  said 
coldly  to  my  landlady,  '  I  am  going  to  spend  three  days 
with  relatives.' — Was  not  the  Cathedral  of  la-bas  a 
relative  of  Our  Ladv  of  Paris  ? 


312  The  Early  Gothic 

"At  the  station  I  sat  down  and  decided  how 
much  to  spend  on  car-fare.  Then  I  approached  the 
clerk. 

"  'A  two  franc  ticket  to  Beauvais.' 

"  '  No  such  thing  exists. ' 

" '  Well,  a  two  franc  ticket  on  the  way,  if  you  please, 
Mademoiselle.' 

"She  thought  that  I  was  crazy — but  no  matter!  I 
went  as  far  as — as — what  matters  the  name  of  the 
place?  I  descended — I  walked  on — and,  in  short,  I 
saw  Beauvais." 

He  stopped  a  moment  and  nodded  as  if  in  revery. 

"I  was  gone  ten  days.  When  I  returned  they 
received  me  as  one  from  the  dead." 

"And  what  did  you  think  of  Saint-Pierre  of  Beau- 
vais  r 

"As  to  that,  I  have  not  the  words  for  expression. 
Ten  days  I  spent  there  thinking  of  little  else,  yet  it  is 
beyond  my  power  to  describe  it.  I  imagine,"  he  shut 
his  eyes  and  spoke  slowly,  "that  if  Notre-Dame  of 
Paris  could  see  that  church  she  would  feel  as  great 
Jove  when  he  saw  the  glorious  form  of  Minerva  fresh- 
sprung  from  his  brow.  Beauvais  is  like  the  Victory  at 
the  Louvre,  the  Winged  Victory  of  Samothrace;  it  is 
crippled,  mutilated,  broken, —  but  what  completed 
work  in  all  this  world  is  more  sublime? 

"That  adventure  happened  long  ago;  and  now,  in 
my  old  age,  heaven  has  been  kind  and  permitted  me 
to  collect  infinite  details.     To  some,  a  postcard    may 


Paris  313 

be  vulgar,  but  to  an  old  man  it  can  mean  knowledge, 
comparison,  and  all  the  delights  of  travel." 

He  paused  a  while.  "  Not  that  I  have  been  without 
my  own  little  adventures!  After  I  had  acquired  a 
copy  of  '  The  Hunchback  of  Notre-Dame, '  for  in- 
stance, nothing  would  satisfy  me  but  to  go  about  the 
church  as  Quasimodo  was  said  to  have  done  and  also 
as  I  imagined  to  myself  he  did;  and  I  conceived  the 
idea  of  sleeping,  a  la  Quasimodo,  on  top  of  one  of  the 
towers.  Nothing  would  be  easier!  Everybody  knew 
me  and  I  had  free  entrance  and  exit.  The  only  draw- 
back was  that  the  idea  had  seized  me  in  the  cold  days 
of  March.  With  impatience  I  waited  till  summer, 
and  on  an  afternoon  of  June,  when  the  concierge  had 
fortunately  dropped  her  sewing-basket  and  was  on  her 
knees  on  the  floor,  I  slipped  by.  I  also  evaded  those 
two  upstairs,  and  hid  myself  and  my  warm  coat,  for 
it  is  not  difficult  to  hide  in  one's  own  home.  At  five, 
they  left  me — safely  locked  in. 

"  I  knew  very  well  the  view  at  that  hour,  so,  con- 
cealing myself  carefully  from  the  sight-seers  on  the 
square,  I  first  saluted  the  Angel  and  then  went  about 
to  speak  to  the  animals.  To  confess  the  truth,  I  am 
not  very  fond  of  the  demons  and  the  devils,  so  I  merely 
called  out  that  I  was  not  afraid  of  them, — there  is 
nothing  so  disheartening  to  malice  as  the  indifference 
of  a  possible  victim.  On  the  same  principle,  I  bowed 
to  the  grave  and  reverend  stork  and  said  that  I  was 
convinced  that  his  bill  would  not  condescend  to  peck 


3*4 


The  Early  Gothic 


me.  These  visits  occupied  so  much  time  that  I  was 
obliged  to  stop  and  dine;  and  as  I  ate,  I  thought  of  an 
American  who  understood  the  spirit  in  which  these 
animals  were  created.  'To  us,  they  are  "chimeri- 
cal," and  many,  I  suppose,  believe  that  to  their  sculp- 


a 


\m 


WHO    CAN    READ    THE     MYTHICAL   ZOOLOGIES     OF     THEIR    AGE    AND    DOUBT 
THAT    THESE     ARTISTS    DERIVED    THEIR    INSPIRATIONS    FROM      THE 
FAMOUS    MEDIAEVAL    BESTIARIES?" PARIS. 

tors  also  they  were  imaginary.  But  who  can  read  the 
mythical  zoologies  of  their  age  and  doubt  that  these 
artists  derived  their  inspirations  from  the  famous 
mediaeval  Bestiaries,  who  can  doubt  that  they  were 
reproducing  in  stone  some  reverend  author's  descrip- 


Paris 


3i5 


The 


tions  ? '  These  words,  which  I  once  had  the  opportunity 
to  copy  from  the  American's  big  book  on  'Science  and 
Theology, '  will  explain  to  you  my  meaning  better 
than  I  myself  can." 

He  again  took  out  the  wallet  and  selected  another 
of  its  papers. 

'The  English  Franciscan,  Bartholomew,  on 
Properties  of  Things,"  an  ex- 
ample of  the  theological  method 
as  applied  to  science, '  "  he  read, 
'"devotes  much  thought  to 
the  dragons  mentioned  in  the 
Scripture.  He  says,  "the 
dragon  is  most  greatest  of  all 
serpents,  and  oft  he  is  drawn 
out  of  his  den  and  raiseth  up  into 
the  air  .  .  .  and  he  hath  a  crest 
and  reareth  his  tongue.  .  .  . 
Whom  he  nndeth  he  slayeth. 
Often  four  or  five  of  them  fasten 
their  tails  together  .  .  .  and 
sail  over  the  sea  to  get  good 
meat.  Between  elephants  and 
dragons  is  everlasting  fighting; 

for  the  dragon  with  his  tail  spanneth  the  elephant, 
and  the  elephant  with  his  nose  throweth  down  the 
dragon."  This  book,  written  in  the  middle  of  the 
XIII  century,  was  translated  into  the  principal  lan- 
guages of  Europe,  even  after  the  invention  of  printing 


THE    ELEPHANT  WITH  HIS 
NOSE     CAN     THROW     DOWN 
A    DRAGON." PARIS. 


316 


The  Early  Gothic 


it  held  its  own,  and  in  the  XV  century  there  were  no 
less  than  ten  editions  in  Latin,  French,  Dutch,  Spanish, 
and  English. 

'  The  same  sort  of  science  flourished  in  the  Bestiaries, 

which  were  used 
everywhere,  and 
especially  in  the 
pulpits,  for  the 
edification  of  the 
Faithful.  .  .  . 
The  Dominican 
Inquisitor,  Vider, 
in  his  book,  "The 
Ant  Hill,"  teaches 
us  that  the  ants 
in  Ethiopia,  which 
are  said  to  have 
horns  and  to  grow 
so  large  as  to  look 
like  dogs,  are  em- 
blems of  atrocious 
heretics,  like 
Wyclif  and  the 
Hussites,  who  bark 
and  bite  against  the  truth;  while  the  ants  of  India, 
which  dig  up  gold  out  of  the  sand  with  their  feet 
and  hoard  it,  though  they  make  no  use  of  it,  sym- 
bolise the  fruitless  toil  with  which  the  heretics  dig 
out    the    gold    of    the   Holy   Scripture    and    hoard    it 


'the    gargoyle    overhanging    the    wall 
.   .  ,  the  grotesque  clambering  about 
the   towers   or   perched    upon 
pinacles.'  " paris. 


THE     TRANSEPT    'GIVES     TO     THE     CHURCH    .    .     .    THE     RICH     AND     SOMBRE 
GLORY    OF    ITS    WINDOWS    AND    ITS    ROSE.'    " PARIS. 


317 


Paris  319 

in  their  books  to  no  purpose.  This  pious  spirit 
not  only  pervaded  science;  it  bloomed  out  in  art 
and  especially  in  the  Cathedral.  In  the  gargoyles 
overhanging  the  walls,  in  the  grotesques  clambering 
about  the  towers  or  perched  upon  pinnacles,  in  the 
dragons  prowling  under  archways  or  lurking  in  bosses 
of  foliage,  in  the  apocalyptic  beasts  carved  upon  the 
stalls  of  the  choir,  stained  into  the  windows,  wrought 
into  the  tapestries,  illuminated  in  the  letters  and 
borders  of  Psalters  and  Missals,  these  marvels  of  crea- 
tion suggested  everywhere  morals  from  the  Physiologus, 
the  Bestiaries,  and  the  Exempla.' 

"  Some  of  these  Bestiaries  were  written  after  Notre- 
Dame  had  been  built,"  continued  the  old  man,  "but 
vSaint  Isidor  of  Seville,  the  great  doctor  of  the  VII 
century,  tells  us  of  the  basilisk  which  kills  serpents  by 
his  breath  and  men  by  his  glance;  .  .  .  and  an  old 
Physiologus  has  an  animal  much  more  marvellous 
than  any  of  these. 

"As  to  the  ant-lion,'  says  this  venerable  book,  'his 
father  hath  the  shape  of  a  lion,  his  mother  of  an  ant. 
.  .  .  These  bring  forth  the  ant-lion,  a  compound  of 
both  and  in  part  like  to  either;  for  his  fore-part  is  like 
that  of  a  lion  and  his  hind-part  like  that  of  an  ant. 
Being  thus  composed  he  is  neither  able  to  eat  flesh  like 
his  father  nor  herbs  like  his  mother,  and  so  he  perisheth.' 

"This  is  not  all — it  is  not  the  half  of  the  marvel 
of  mediaeval  science.  Hyenas  talked  to  shepherds  in 
those  good  old  days.     But  on  that  June  night  in  the 


320  The  Early  Gothic 

tower  nothing  so  wondrous  occurred  to  me.  I  saw 
Paris  and  her  million  of  lights — I  saw  the  animals' 
dark  silhouettes  against  the  sky — I  slept  under  a  canopy 
strewn  with  stars — and  the  next  day  I  ignominiously 
scurried  down  the  steps,  and  as  I  went  by,  the  con- 
cierge called  cheerfully,  '  Well,  well,  Monsieur  Peyroux, 
— good-day!  You  are  going  out?  You  must  be  a 
ghost,  for  I  did  not  remark  you  as  you  entered ! ' 

For  some  time,  a  common,  but  intelligent,  black  dog 
had  been  standing  near  the  bench.  As  Monsieur 
Peyroux 's  voice  died  away,  the  dog  grew  bolder,  placed 
a  paw  on  the  old  gentleman's  knee,  and  barked. 

"Yes,  yes,  Marcellin,  I  saw  you,  and  you  have  been 
very  polite  to  wait  until  I  finished.  This  is  my  dog, 
my  friend, — he  comes  for  me  every  night  at  seven.  It 
is  a  good  thing,  for  I  am  forgetful,  and  before  eight 
o'clock  the  soup  grows  cold." 

"It  is  now  almost  that  late,"  said  the  Traveller, 
looking  at  his  watch. 

"Helas!  My  good  landlady  will  berate  me  with  her 
tongue  and  you  also,  perhaps,  in  your  heart.  I  can 
but  be  pleased,  however,  to  have  had  company  in  my 
absent-mindedness. ' ' 

He  got  up  and  with  an  effort  straightened  his 
shoulders. 

"  Perhaps  before  we  part,  I  should  ask  pardon  for 
my  loquaciousness.  I  will  say  for  myself  that  I  have 
also  my  moods  of  silence;  and,  if  we  meet  again  and 
one  prefers,   I  can  show  them." 


IT    IS    INTERESTING    TO    SEE    THAT    HERE,    IN    THE    EARLIEST    PART    OF    THE 
EDIFICE,     MASSIVENESS     OF    PROPORTION,    A    STRONG    CHARACTER- 
ISTIC   OF    THE    ROMANESQUE,    STILL   PREVAILS." PARIS. 


321 


Paris  323 

"Please  do  not,"  said  the  Traveller,  rising,  "it  has 
been  a  real  pleasure  to  listen." 

In  an  instant,  the  dark  eyes  lightened,  and  the  old 
gentleman  took  of!  his  hat  and  bowed. 

"  I  thank  you  that  I  need  not  then  reproach  myself. 
Good-bye,  perhaps  au  re  voir,"  he  said  with  simple 
courtesy,  and,  bowing  again,  walked  across  the  Parvise 
and  over  the  bridge. 

The  twilight  was  gathering,  and  the  Traveller,  in 
his  turn,  started  homeward,  pondering  over  the  history 
of  the  dark,  old  church. 

Notre-Dame,  he  recalled,  was  commenced  during  the 
Episcopacy  of  the  great  Maurice  de  Sully,  and,  in 
1 163,  Pope  Alexander  III,  an  exile  sheltered  in  France, 
laid  its  first  stone.  At  this  time,  the  plan  of  the  Abbey 
of  Saint-Denis  had  been  conceived,  and  the  Cathedrals 
of  Noyon,  Sens,  and  Laon,  begun  nearly  fifteen  years 
before,  had  passed  beyond  the  elementary  stage  of 
construction.  How  far  the  builders  of  Notre-Dame 
were  influenced  by  these  growing  churches  is  a  matter 
of  inference  rather  than  precise  knowledge.  The  choir 
was  finished  in  1196.  In  its  chief  parts  the  whole 
church  was  completed  before  1230,  the  stupendous 
production  of  barely  threescore  years  to  which  later 
centuries  have  added  no  finer  architectural  strength 
or  beauty.  "When  one  thinks,"  writes  Viollet-le-Duc, 
"of  the  innumerable  .  .  .  statues  and  sculptures, 
the  enormous  surface  of  windows,  of  the  ornaments  of 
all  kinds  which  entered  into  the  composition  of  these 


324  The  Early  Gothic 

monuments,  one  must  marvel  at  the  activity  and 
number  of  artists,  artisans,  and  workmen  who  could 
be  had;  above  all  when  one  realises  that  all  these 
sculptures,  either  of  ornaments  or  of  figures,  were 
finished  piece  by  piece  as  the  work  advanced." 

According  to  the  first  plan,  Notre-Dame  was  to 
have  had  a  central  nave  and  four  side-aisles,  a  choir 
and  double  ambulatory.  To  this  plan,  twenty-nine 
chapels  and  the  transepts  were  added. 

These  transepts  are  so  shallow  that  their  interior 
proportions  are  comparatively  unimportant;  and  al- 
though they  break  the  long  lines  of  the  arches  of  the 
nave,  they  give  to  the  church  in  compensation  the  rich 
and  sombre  glory  of  their  windows  and  their  roses, 
and  the  balancing  of  the  loss  and  gain  must  remain  a 
mooted  artistic  question.  The  introduction  of  chapels 
has  not,  in  Notre-Dame,  too  obvious  an  architectural 
incongruity.  The  first  chapels  of  the  choir  appear  to 
be  scarcely  more  than  useful  alcoves,  or  burial  cham- 
bers; but  those  which  open  about  the  Sanctuary  are 
not  so  restricted  in  size.  Each  is  a  long,  narrow  recess 
which  curves  with  the  rounded  line  of  the  choir  and 
has  more  than  one  arched  opening  between  its  parti- 
tion walls.  The  effect  is  that  of  continuity  of  space, 
almost  of  an  added  semicircular  walk;  and  this  series 
of  chapels,  with  the  dark,  rich  glass  of  its  windows, 
adds  to  the  fine  ambulatory  an  appearance  of  beauti- 
ful, mysterious  depth. 

It  is  interesting  to  see  that  here,  in  the  earliest,  as  in 


GOTHIC      TRAITS      BECOME     MORE    .    .    .    PRONOUNCED,    .    .    .     AND      HIDDEN 

IN      THE      DARK      SIDE-AISLES,      THE      CLUSTERING      OF    LITTLE    COLUMNS 

ABOUT    THE    STURDIER   PARENT    SHAFT    IS    A    BEAUTIFUL    ADVANCE 

UPON   THE  CONSISTENT  USE  OF  THE   ROUND    PILLAR." PARIS. 


.^25 


Paris 


327 


the  later  portions  of  the  edifice,  massiveness  of  pro- 
portion, a  strong  characteristic  of  the  Romanesque, 
still  prevails ;  but  that  the  ornamentation,  by  which  a 
style  is  denoted,  has  entirely  diverged  from  that  of  the 
older  form.  The  designs  of  classic  tradition,  which 
were  at  once  formal  and  elaborate,  seem  forgotten; 
and  more  natural,  less  artificial,  and,  as  it  were,  more 
flowing,  moving  motives  were  essayed;  and  in  the  mak- 
ing of  capitals,  leaves  and  foliage  were  designed  instead 
of  more  or  less  geometric  "patterns." 

In  the  side  aisles,  Gothic  traits  become  more  and 
more  pronounced.  The  arches  which  lead  to  the 
ambulatory,  incongruously  ornamental  in  comparison 
with  the  severe  style  of  the  church,  may  well  be  passed 
with  a  glance,  but,  hidden  in  the  dark  aisles,  the  clus- 
tering of  little  columns  about  the  sturdier  parent  shaft 
is  a  beautiful  advance  upon  the  consistent  use  of  the 
great  round  pillar. 

In  the  triforium  also,  slender  columns  are  multiplied, 
and  the  grace  of  their  slim  height  gives  a  delicacy  to 
this  broad  gallery  which,  in  style  at  least,  isolates  it 
from  the  heavy  majesty  of  the  lower  church.  By 
clever  architectural  dispositions  this  unwonted  delicacy 
is  almost  concealed  within  the  triforium;  and,  nave- 
ward,  the  main  arch  is  so  strong  and  solid  that,  in  spite 
of  the  lightness  of  the  smaller  arches  it  contains,  the 
harmony  of  the  nave  is  not  disturbed. 

v  Yet,  with  all  its  noble  qualities,  the  interior  is  not  as 
perfect  as  its  outer  walls.     There,  at  least,  the  archi- 


328 


The  Early  Gothic 


tects  realised  entire  originality,  with  new  boldness  and 
a  majestic  consonance  and  magnificence  of  style  which 
loses  little  or  nothing  in  contrast  with  the  most  perfect 
of  Gothic  exteriors.  The  interior  cannot  claim  such 
comparative  superiority.  It  is  a  structure  of  true 
ecclesiastical  dignity;  yet  the  advance  in  the  art  of  the 


"in  the  triforium  also  slender  columns  ARE  MULTIPLIED." PARIS. 

choir  of  Beauvais  and  of  the  naves  of  Reims  and  Amiens 
is  so  vast  that  Notre-Dame  more  nearly  resembles 
the  Romanesque  than  their  presentations  of  the  Gothic 
form;  and  if  the  church  is  far  grander  than  the  contem- 
porary Cathedrals  of  Noyon  and  Sens,  it  is  indeed  a 
question  whether  its  nave  is  intrinsically  finer  than  the 
great  nave  of  Laon. 


Paris 


329 


With  the  notable  exception  of  the  transepts  and  a 
part  of  the  choir,  Notre-Dame  has  little  beautiful  glass; 
the  small  roses  winch  are  cut  in  the  walls  about  the 
crossing  are  not  remarkable;  but  the  grey  windows  of 
the  nave,  if  in  themselves  severe,  fill  the  church  with 
a  subdued  and  appropriate  light. 


"a    base,    decorated    with    narrow    arches,    supports    the    large 

carved    pictures   which    represent   episodes   of  the 

life   of   our  lord." paris. 


Although  the  side-aisles  have  an  essential  dignity, 
those  nearest  the  higher  vessel  of  the  church  seem,  in 
comparison,  abruptly  squat ;  and  the  addition  of  the  two 
outer  aisles,  which  are  equally  low,  merely  adds  to  the 
disproportionate  effect.  In  the  choir,  the  screen  hides 
this  sharp  contrast;  and  it  is  in  the  ambulatory  walks 


33° 


The  Early  Gothic 


and  in  the  sweep  of  the  harmonious  and  dimly  lighted 
nave  that  the  noblest  perspectives  of  the  interior  are 
seen. 

Notre-Dame    has    many    interesting    and    historic 
tombs,  but  it  possesses  few  purely  ecclesiastical  details. 

Within  the  church 
there  is  the  choir- 
wood  which  is 
extensive  and 
comparatively 
unimportant,  and 
the  screen  which 
was  commenced 
in  the  last  years 
of  the  XIII  cen- 
tury and  finished 
in  1351.  As  few 
of  these  construc- 
tions have  sur- 
Ivived  to  our  day, 
^^J7(  ftftlMjfl  this  screen>  which 
■  -A-A'A'i'i   .  is  one  of  the  early 

examples  of  the 
art,  has  an  especial 
archaeological  interest.  A  high  base,  decorated  with 
narrow  arches,  supports  the  large,  carved  pictures 
which  represent  episodes  of  the  Life  of  Our  Lord;  and 
these  bas-reliefs  are  surmounted  and  protected  by  a 
dais.     The  designs  of  the  base  and  the  dais  are  purely 


THE      BALUSTRADES     OF         THE     MODERN 
RECTORY.  " PARIS. 


Paris  331 

conventional;  the  whole  wall  is  painted  and  gilded;  at 
times  the  scenes  are  depicted  with  naive  lack  of  per- 
spective, but  they  have  always  dramatic  clearness, 
grace,  and  force. 

v  Only  the  plain,  white  marble  which  covers  its  episco- 
pal burial-vault,  a  little,  open-air  museum  of  its  old 
Gothic  ornaments,  and  the  modern  rectory,  can  be  enu- 
merated as  the  church 's  exterior  ' '  details . "  It  once  had 
a  Cloister  whose  memory  is  now  perpetuated  in  the  name 
of  a  narrow  street,  and  it  had  also  a  large,  outlying  dis- 
trict which  popularly  received  the  name  of  "Cloister." 

"At  the  beginning  of  the  XIV  century,"  writes 
Viollet-le-Duc,  "  this  Cloister  of  Notre-Dame  extended 
North  and  East  of  the  Cathedral  to  the  banks  of  the 
Seine,  and  included  thirty-seven  canonical  houses.  .  .  . 
As  those  of  most  Cathedrals,  it  was  therefore  an  agglo- 
meration of  buildings  comprised  in  a  fortified  area, 
rather  than  a  Cloister  properly  so-called."  The  build- 
ings were  encumbered  with  many  taxes ;  and  the  Canons 
sometimes  endeavoured  to  supplement  their  income 
by  vocations  very  foreign  to  their  holy  calling.  Some, 
it  is  said,  sold  wine,  others  rented  parts  of  their  houses, 
and  there  were  a  few  who  kept  taverns. 

From  the  days  of  its  Cloister  until  our  own  time, 
Notre-Dame  has  seen  pageants  so  numerous  and  so 
diverse  that  one  large  book  would  not  be  voluminous 
enough  to  contain  their  description,  and  the  record  of 
one  half  century  alone  shows  the  mutability,  the  ironic 
instability  of  all  things  human. 


332  The  Early  Gothic 

On  a  dreary  November  day  of  143 1,  a  little  child, 
already  Henry  VI  and  King  of  England,  was  led  into 
the  choir  of  the  Cathedral  and  solemnly  crowned  King 
of  France.  Before  this  child  had  grown  up  and  died, 
his  country's  short-lived  "conquest"  of  the  kingdom 
of  France  had  passed,  the  tragedy  of  Joan  of  Arc  had 
become  a  national  emotion ;  and  on  another  sombre  day 
of  November,  1455,  before  a  huge  concourse  of  people, 
three  peasants — the  mother  and  the  two  brothers  of 
Joan — entered  the  Cathedral  to  receive  as  their  rightful 
due  from  the  Archbishop  of  Reims,  the  Bishop  of  Cou- 
tances,  and  the  Bishop  of  Paris,  a  tardy  "justice"  for 
the  martyred  Maid. 

Ten  years  had  scarcely  passed  when,  as  Kirk  describes 
in  "Charles  the  Bold,"  the  great  church  became  the 
meeting-place  for  the  hatching  of  a  plot  to  rid  the  coun- 
try of  Louis  XL  It  was  the  early  period  of  his  reign 
and  more  than  five  hundred  people  were  joined  in  this 
conspiracy  against  him.  The  King  had  jealous  ears, 
and  a  perilously  large  number  of  people  knew  of  the 
existence  of  this  "  cause," — but  it  had  no  traitors. 

Silently,  wearing  the  silken  "  aiguillette  "  which  was 
their  badge,  the  conspirators  glided  in  and  out  the 
Cathedral;  and  Princes  and  Princesses,  noblemen  and 
lovely  ladies,  and  many  humbler  folk,  who  went  into 
the  great  place  ostensibly  to  pray,  really  entered  to 
catch  the  "Universal  Spider"  in  a  net  of  imprisonment 
and  death. 

In    the   next   century,    the    charming   and    ill-fated 


Paris  333 

Mary  Stuart  was  married  before  the  High  Altar  to 
Catherine  de  Medicis'  weak  son,  Prince  Francis.  In 
1803,  the  grandiose  coronation  of  Napoleon  I  by  Pope 
Pius  VII  took  place  here.  Here,  fifty  years  later,  the 
marriage  of  Louis  Napoleon  was  solemnised;  and,  per- 
haps in  true  historical  sequence,  it  is  also  here  that  the 
church  now  mourns  most  magnificently  her  sons  who 
fell  in  1870. 

The  Cathedral  of  Paris  did  not  originally  possess  such 
noted  renown,  nor  has  its  city  always  enjoyed  metropoli- 
tan fame.  The  former,  far  from  being  the  first  church 
of  a  noted  archiepiscopal  See,  belonged  for  centuries  to  a 
Bishop  who  was  subject  to  Sens;  and,  in  earlier,  pagan 
times,  the  latter  was  a  poor  fishing  town. 

Caesar  was  the  first  to  describe  in  detail  this  part  of 
the  country.  He  wrote  that,  on  an  island  in  the  middle 
of  the  river  Seine,  the  "  Parisii "  or  Parisians  had  a  town 
which  was  a  collection  of  mud  huts.  It  was  a  very  tiny 
place,  capital  of  a  handful  of  people  whose  grandfathers 
had  been  subject  to  the  more  powerful  tribe  of  the 
Senons  of  Sens.  But  these  people  were  not  servile; 
they  were  free,  active  fisher-folk  who  sailed  the  whole 
navigable  course  of  the  Seine  and  were  said  to  penetrate 
even  to  Great  Britain. 

They  rose  with  Vercingetorix.  Beaten  by  Caesar's 
lieutenant,  their  city  was  neglected.  It  grew,  however, 
slowly,  had  its  temple  of  Jupiter,  and  began  to  extend 
over  the  left  bank  of  the  Seine  where  its  amphitheatre 
was  built.     It  is  claimed  by  some  historians  that  the 


334  The  Early  Gothic 

Emperor  Constance  Chlorus  came  here  during  his  reign ; 
and  others  say  that,  between  292  and  306,  the  Christian 
Church  of  Lutetia  was  founded  by  Bishop  Dionysius, 
or  Denis,  and  two  deacons,  and  that  the  Apostle  to  the 
Parisians  and  his  companions  suffered  martyrdom  on  a 
hill  near  the  city,  Montmartre,  the  Mount  of  Martyrs. 

The  Emperor  Julian  preferred  Lutetia  to  all  the 
other  cities  of  the  Empire,  and  is  said  to  have  built  a 
palace  and  the  large  baths  whose  ruins  still  exist.  But, 
in  spite  of  imperial  favour,  Lyons,  Aries,  and  Treves 
remained  the  capitals  of  Gaul ;  and  even  after  hundreds 
of  years  had  elapsed,  the  last  Carlo vingians  chose  as 
their  capital,  not  Paris,  but  the  hill-city  of  Laon. 

Paris  was  destined  to  come  to  its  own,  and  the  See 
grew  powerful.  Dangers  have  often  threatened  its  Ca- 
thedral and  losses  have  befallen  it.  In  the  dark  days  of 
the  Terror,  loyal  republicans  commanded  that  the  royal 
arms,  which  had  been  carved  on  the  portals,  should 
be  destroyed  within  eight  days  and  that  the  statues  of 
the  Saints  "should  share  the  same  fate."  But  Citizen 
Chaumette  saved  these  sculptures  by  assuring  his  col- 
leagues that  the  astronomer  Dupuis  had  discovered  his 
planetary  system  on  one  of  the  portals.  Thereupon 
the  Citizen  was  put  on  the  Council  for  the  Preservation 
of  Public  Buildings,  and,  in  consequence,  much  was 
saved  from  complete  and  hopeless  destruction. 

The  iconoclastic  Revolution  of  '93  was  not  the  Cathe- 
dral's only  menace,  and  Victor  Hugo's  words,  directed 
against  the  favoured  architects  of  Louis  XIII  and  Louis 


Paris 


135 


XIV,  are  eloquent  of  the  degenerate  artistic  period  of 
those  reigns.  "If,"  he  writes,  "we  had  the  leisure  to 
examine,  one  by  one,  the  diverse  traces  of  destruction 
which  the  venerable  church  bears,  those  caused  by  time 
would  be  fewest. 
The  worst  are  the 
work  of  men, 
above  all,  of  men 
of  art." 

The  "great  de- 
struction" oc- 
curred between 
1699  and  1753.  A 
huge  Saint  Chris- 
topher was  then 
removed ;  and  an 
equestrian  statue 
which  stood  in  the 
interior  was  also 
destroyed.  It  is 
unfortunate  that 
the  figure  of  the 
Saint  so  loved  by 
the  XIII  century 
should  have  been 
wantonly  destroyed  by  the  XV;  but  the  disappear- 
ance of  the  equestrian  statue  is  still  more  regret- 
table, for  it  is  said  to  have  represented  Philip  of 
Valois   as    he    rode,    booted  and  spurred,  into  Notre- 


A    CURIOUS    DETAIL. 


336  The  Early  Gothic 

Dame  to  render  thanks  for  the  French  victory  before 
Cassel. 

The  loss  of  fine  details,  and  especially  of  a  Cloister, 
is  always  deplorable;  but  although  it  was  practically 
completed  in  the  XIII  century,  although  "the  XV 
century  did  not  add  one  stone ' '  to  its  building,  although 
it  traversed  the  architectural  dangers  of  the  Tyranny 
and  the  Great  Revolution,  Notre-Dame  itself  has 
withstood  these  perils  of  time,  of  men,  and  of  revolu- 
tions when  men  become  as  beasts.  Many  titles  are 
given  to  edifices;  Viollet-le-Duc  calls  Reims  "the  Queen 
of  Cathedrals,"  Avignon  is  the  Church  of  the  French 
Popes,  Agde  was  a  Fortress  by  the  Sea ;  and  the  Cathe- 
dral of  Paris,  with  its  power,  magnificence,  dignity, 
and  majestic  strength,  proclaims  its  own  rank.  It 
belongs  to  the  old  regime,  and  is  of  an  ancient  line  of 
royalty,  it  is  mediaeval  and  heroic, — the  "  King"  among 
Gothic  churches  of  France. 


The  Mature  Gothic. 


337 


THE  MATURE  GOTHIC. 

Although  few  of  its  ancient  buildings  re- 
main, one  who  stands  on  the  hill-side  of 
Vienne  and  sees  the  gleam  of  the  curving 
Rhone  and  the  sunlight  on  the  rugged  Alps 
beyond,  can  imagine  the  white  Arena,  the  Temples,  and 
the  Villas  which  made  the  noble  classic  city.  But  the 
"magnificence"  of  Celtic  Bourges,  which  was  so  great 
that  even  the  stern  Romans  could  not  resolve  to  de- 
stroy it,  is  beyond  the  vision  of  the  modern  imagination. 
To  the  pretty  monotony  of  the  Berri  country  Nature 
adds  only  a  gentle  and  quiet  charm,  and  a  few  bits  of 
old  masonry,  now  shapeless,  tell  nothing  of  the  architec- 
ture of  which  this  unknown  Celtic  opulence  must  have 
consisted.  Yet  Julius  Caesar,  who  was  no  unthinking 
enthusiast,  writes  that  it  was  the  most  beautiful  city 
in  all  Gaul;  it  was  so  geographically  and  strategically 
important  that  Augustus  made  it  "the  metropolis  of 
Aquitaine";  and,  when  the  Visigoths  conquered  that 
immense  province,  Bourges  became  their  capital.  Af- 
ter the  final  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  the  civic  author- 
ity passed  to  the  Primates  of  Aquitaine.  Gradually 
usurped  by  the  Viscounts  of  Bourges  and  the  Counts 
and  Dukes  of  Berri,  it  was  partially  acquired  by  the 

339 


34o  The  Mature  Gothic 

people,  and  in  1179  Louis  VII  sanctioned  their  com- 
munal charter. 

During  the  rule  of  these  different  mediaeval  powers,  a 
custom  and  an  insignia  were  created  whose  reasons 
and  origins  are  now  forgotten.  The  custom  was  the 
holding  of  two  lighted  candles  before  the  Archbishop 
whenever  he  assisted  or  officiated  at  Mass,  and  the  in- 
signia was  the  original  coat-of-arms  of  Bourges.  In  more 
modern  days,  the  seal  has  silver  sheep  and  golden 
fleur-de-lys,  but  that  of  the  mediaeval  city  represented 
a  much  less  artistic  device — an  ass  seated  in  an  arm- 
chair. Many  ingenious  explanations  of  this  strange 
emblem  have  been  imagined,  and  it  has  been  thought 
that  the  Feast  of  the  Ass,  which  was  celebrated  with 
particular  pomp  in  their  Cathedral,  might  have  sug- 
gested to  the  burghers  a  symbolic  reproduction  of  a 
religious  idea.  But  the  logical  connection  between  the 
Ass  of  the  Gospel  and  the  Ass  of  the  city  is  vague,  and 
the  presence  of  his  arm-chair  is  still  more  mysterious. 

Mystery  also  surrounds  the  meaning  of  the  Arch- 
bishop's candles;  no  history  of  their  first  use  is  found 
and  no  existing  Bull  shows  the  sanctioned  authenticity 
of  the  unusual  archiepiscopal  privilege.  But  Nicolas  I 
recognised  it,  and  as  writers  of  the  IX  century  speak 
of  its  usage,  it  has  the  dignity  of  a  primitive  and 
venerable  origin. 

The  great  See  had  been  created  in  an  early  Christian 
century,  it  possessed  many  honours  and  riches,  it  had 
arisen  to  almost  unrivalled  precedence:  and,  naturally, 


I* 

THE     TYMPANUM      REPRESENTS     THE      XII      CENTURY'S     PERSISTENT     IDEAL 
OF     CHRIST,    THE    GLORIOUS    CHRIST    SURROUNDED    BY    THE 
FOUR    EVANGELISTIC    SYMBOLS." BOURGES. 


341 


Bourges  343 

when  the  Gothic  was  rising  to  pre-eminence,  Saint 
William  began  a  new  Cathedral  in  the  new  style. 

Four  edifices  which  were  said  to  have  been  worthy 
of  primatial  rank  had  preceded  the  new  church,  and 
the  lateral  portals  of  the  last  Cathedral  were  deemed 
worthy  of  the  new  structure. 

They  have  signal  richness  of  detail  and  of  execution. 
Byzantine  characteristics  are  prominent  in  the  expres- 
sionless features  of  the  Saints ;  and  with  the  exception 
of  the  pointed  shoes,  their  stiff  bodies  seem  mummy- 
like and  swathed  rather  than  clothed,  the  draperies  are 
covered  with  carven  pearls  and  embroidery,  and  the 
entire  conception  shows  the  influence  of  the  luxuriant, 
oriental  Romanesque  rather  than  that  of  its  simpler, 
occidental  evolution. 

The  Northern  door,  called  Our  Lady  of  Grace  be- 
cause the  Virgin,  with  the  Infant  Jesus  on  her  knees,  is 
enthroned  in  the  tympanum  and  receiving  the  offerings 
of  the  Magi  and  the  shepherds,  has  much  admirable 
facility  and  charm  of  design,  but  it  is  simpler  than  the 
Southern  portal.  There,  the  tympanum  represents 
the  XII  century's  persistent  ideal,  the  Glorious  Christ 
surrounded  by  the  four  evangelistic  symbols,  the  Christ 
Who  was  adored  and  depicted  from  Aries  to  Moissac 
and  from  Bourges  to  Chartres  and  Le  Mans.  This 
bas-relief  was  neither  the  beginning  nor  the  end  of  a 
series  of  scenes,  and  no  drama  such  as  the  "  Last 
Judgements"  of  the  XIII  and  XIV  centuries  was  con- 
templated.    It  was  the  Gothic  which  first  introduced 


344 


The  Mature  Gothic 


continuity  of  thought  into  religious  sculpture.  After 
the  Romanesque  artist  had  carved  Christ  and  the  Gos- 
pels, the  keystone,  as  it  were,  of  the  Faith,  he  chose 
what  lesser  religious  subjects  he  would  and,  following 
this  idea,  the  old  Southern  door  of  Bourges  has  statues 

of  Moses,  of  three 
Kings,    and    three 
strange  person- 
ages,     "Onias," 
"Soph,"     and 
"Jech,"    and    the 
capitals  of  its  pil- 
lars  are   carved 
with  many  strange 
tales  and  symbols. 
It  is  also  covered, 
without  confusion, 
by  the  most  beauti- 
ful ornamentation, 
^^     and  no  other  por- 
tion of  the  Cathe- 
dral  has   such   an 
opulence  of  detail. 
Both  the  Northern  and  the  Southern  doors  are  pre- 
ceded by  that  which  their  builders  could  scarcely  have 
conceived,  square  Gothic  porches.     Each  of  the  open 
-ides  is  formed  by  two  large  arcades  separated  by  a 
frail,  monolithic  column  and  surmounted  by  a  carved 
oculus;   and    1  he   conception,    which    in    the   Southern 


THE    DOORS    ARE    PRECEDED    BY    A   CONSTRUC- 
riON  OF    WHICH  THEIR   ORIGINAL  BUILDERS 
COULD  SCARCELY  HAVE  CONCEIVED.  " 
—  BOURGES. 


THIS    CRYPT    IS    AS    MYSTERIOUS    IN    ORIGIN    AS      .    .    . 
CHILL    AND    VAULTED    DARKNESS." — BOURGES. 


345 


Bourges  347 

portal  is  very  graceful,  in  the  Northern  construction 
gains  dignity  from  the  broad  flight  of  steps  which 
leads  to  it. 

The  forms  of  the  porches  are  at  once  gracious  and 
sufficiently  strong  to  accord  with  the  heavy  walls  of 
the  Cathedral  and,  in  their  shadowy  depths,  the  stiff, 
richly  garbed  Byzantine  figures  take  on  an  appearance 
of  mysterious  symbolism.  The  combination  of  a 
Gothic  porch  of  the  XVI  century  and  an  old  Roman- 
esque door-way  of  1 130,  which  should  seem  artistically 
inconsequent,  is  beautiful  and  effective,  and  it  is  a 
pity  that  these  lateral  porches,  so  simply  built  at 
Bourges,  so  sumptuous  at  Chartres,  did  not  become  a 
more  general  style  of  construction. 

Besides  the  portals,  Saint  William  also  preserved 
the  subterranean  structure  which  had  lain  below  the 
choir  of  the  old  Cathedral  and  now  lies  beneath  the 
Sanctuary  of  the  present  church.  A  dark  Rotunda, 
whose  thick  walls  are  pierced  with  narrow  windows, 
opens  on  an  obscure  aisle;  and,  by  the  aid  of  a  candle, 
one  may  follow  this  mysterious  passage  to  a  smaller 
chamber  that  is  entirely  dark.  Here  no  fresh  air,  no 
ray  of  daylight  ever  penetrates,  and  the  atmosphere  is 
chill  and  musty.  The  door  has  heavy  hinges,  and  it 
has  been  thought  that  the  chamber  may  have  been  a 
secret  Treasury  and  that  either  it  or  the  Rotunda  was 
a  "Confessio"  or  "  Martyr ium,"  where  the  early 
Christians  buried  the  body  of  a  martyr  or  a  Patron 
Saint.     The  construction  was  so  made  that  this  holy 


34^  The  Mature  Gothic 

relic  could  be  seen  from  above,  through  holes  in  the 
vaulting  of  the  crypt,  but  restorations  and  re-buildings 
have  somewhat  changed  the  dispositions  of  the 
ancient  chambers  of  Bourges  and  these  openings  are 
now  closed.  Fortunately  the  architectural  style  is 
almost  uncontaminated.  It  is  of  the  most  archaic 
forms  of  the  IX,  the  X,  or,  at  latest,  the  XI  century; 
and,  as  the  vagueness  of  the  dates  show,  the  under- 
ground rooms  are  as  mysterious  in  origin  as  they  are 
in  their  chill  and  darkness  and  in  the  ancient,  forgotten 
ceremonials  which  they  suggest. 

"Towards  the  end  of  the  XII  century,"  writes  Viol- 
let-le-Duc,  "the  greater  number  of  holy  bodies,  kept 
till  then  in  crypts,  were  put  in  metal  reliquaries  and 
placed  under  or  behind  the  altars  of  the  higher  church ; 
thus  there  are  no  crypts  in  churches  built  entirely  after 
this  epoch.  The  Cathedral  of  Bourges  is  the  only  excep- 
tion; but  the  declivity  of  the  soil  on  which  this  edifice 
stands,  rather  than  a  religious  idea,  led  to  the  construc- 
tion ...  of  a  subterranean  church  which  is  actually 
above  ground . ' ' 

"The  subterranean  church"  of  which  the  eminent 
authority  speaks  is  not  the  ancient  crypt  of  the  IX  or 
XI  century,  but  a  structure  which  surrounds  it  like  a 
spacious  ambulatory.  The  Roman  ramparts  of  the  city 
of  Bourges  were  just  beyond  the  old  Cathedral,  and, 
in  planning  the  new  and  larger  edifice,  the  constructors 
were  obliged  to  encroach  on  the  moat.  Between  this 
ditch  and  the  level  of  the  upper  church,  foundations 


349 


Bourses  351 


had  to  be  laid  and  they  were  built  in  the  form  of  "the 
subterranean  church  which  is  actually  above  ground." 
No  care  and  no  art  were  spared  in  the  making  of  these 
foundations.  The  finest  materials  were  used,  the  work- 
manship shows  neither  crudity  nor  haste,  and  twelve 
large  windows  light  the  aisles  and  the  fine,  low  vaulting 
and  show  the  elegance  as  well  as  the  strength  of  the 
proportions  and  the  beautiful  simplicity  of  the  sculp- 
ture. At  one  end  of  the  broad,  curved  aisle,  an  in- 
clined plane  terminates  in  a  blank  wall ;  on  the  Northern 
side,  a  similar  passage-way  leads  to  a  stair-case  and 
the  upper  church;  and  in  the  centre  of  the  walk,  a 
narrow  door  leads  to  the  ancient  Rotunda.  Nothing 
could  be  more  vivid  than  the  contrasts  between  the  old 
and  the  new  crypt.  The  one  is  dark,  mysteriously  and 
severely  Romanesque;  the  other,  Gothic  and  full  of 
light,  shows  much  perfection  of  style  and  is  gravely  and 
admirably  ornamented. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  only  rival  of  the  crypt  of 
Bourges  is  Chartres,  with  its  long  galleries,  its  seven 
stair-cases,  its  sacristy,  and  its  large  chapels.  But 
extent  is  not  the  only  remarkable  quality  which  crypts 
may  possess;  and,  among  Abbeys,  the  beautiful  sub- 
structures of  Saint-Eutrope  of  Saintes  and  Saint-Ger- 
main of  Auxerre,  and  those  of  Apt  and  of  Dijon  among 
Cathedrals,  have  an  interest  which  is  not  less  than  that 
of  Bourges  or  of  Chartres. 

Unlike  Apt,  the  religious  history  of  the  great  crypt 
of  the  Primates  of  Aquitaine  has  not  been  preserved; 


352  The  Mature  Gothic 

its  sacred  purposes  seem  also  half  forgotten;  and  it 
looks  as  if  it  were  at  once  a  carpenter-shop  and  a 
museum.  The  planks  and  the  ladders  of  the  shop  are 
in  disagreeable  evidence,  but  the  museum  is  not  with- 
out interest.  The  fine  figure  of  John  of  France,  the 
King's  son  who  fought  so  bravely  at  Poitiers,  lies  here; 
and  the  bear,  crouching  at  his  feet,  recalls  the  name  of 
his  wife,  his  vain  desire  for  the  throne,  and  the  ambi- 
tious phrase  which  he  so  often  repeated  to  her,  "Our- 
sine,  the  day  will  come."  The  effigies  of  the  Marshal 
de  Montigny,  of  de  l'Aubespine,  the  defender  of  Mary 
Stuart,  and  of  Marie  de  la  Chatre,  whose  tombs  were 
sacked  in  'q3,  were  also  brought  here;  in  the  depths 
of  the  Rotunda,  a  shadowy  group  of  immense  statues 
represents  the  mediaeval  idea  of  the  Entombment ;  and 
the  crypt  also  contains  some  bits  of  the  old  choir- 
screen,  and,  among  them,  a  sculptured  stone  which 
represents  Hell  in  the  form  of  a  cauldron. 

It  is  related  that  an  Archbishop  of  Bourges  was 
doing  the  honours  of  his  Cathedral  to  a  Cardinal  when 
the  latter,  stopping  before  the  representation  of  Hell, 
saw  a  mitred  head  among  the  lost. 

"  Monseigneur,"  he  cried,  turning  to  the  Archbishop, 
"it  appears  that  there  are  Bishops  in  Hell, — but  I  see 
no  Cardinals." 

"All,"  replied  the  Archbishop,  "  it  is  true  one  cannot 
see  the  Cardinals, — they  are  at  the  bottom  of  the 
cauldron." 

The  new  crypt  and  Cathedral  of  Bourges,  which  had 


THE  CATHEDRAL  S  COMPARATIVELY  LOW  TRIFORIUM   AND  CLERESTORY 
DEFECTS   OF   ITS   MAGNIFICENT   PROPORTIONS." — BOURGES. 


23 


353 


Bourges 


355 


been  contemplated  and  planned  in  1 1 72,  were  not  begun 
until  1 190  or  1195,  and  twenty-five  years  had  barely 
elapsed  and  the  workmen  had  scarcely  arrived  at  the 
vaulting  of  the  first  aisle  when  money  became  less 
abundant  and  the  history  of  many  churches  was  re- 
peated,— the  work 
dragged.  Econ- 
omy, a  n  d  time 
w  h  i  c  h  brought 
new  artists  a  n  d 
their  vagaries, 
were  often  de- 
structive of  unity 
of  design  and,  in 
this  instance,  may 
explain  the  com- 
paratively low 
triforium  and  cler- 
estory which  are 
u  n  happy  a  n  d 
marked  defects  of 
the  Cathedral's 
magnificent  pro- 
portions. The  cen- 
tral vault  was  not  completed  until  1 280,  and  the  Western 
end  of  the  nave  was  not  reached  until  the  last  of  the  XIII 
or  perhaps  the  beginning  of  the  XIV  century.  The 
church  was  consecrated  in  1324,  but  two  hundred  years 
had  passed  before  its  facade  and  towers  were  finished. 


ONE  OF  THE 


FIVE   AISLES  OF   THE   NAVE. 
BOURGES. 


356  The  Mature  Gothic 

Six  strongly  marked  buttresses  separate  the  wall  of 
the  facade  into  five  divisions,  and  each  has  a  portal, 
an  entrance  into  one  of  the  five  aisles  of  the  nave.  The 
buttresses  which  flank  the  central  door  are  virtually 
tiny  towers,  they  contain  stair-cases,  and  are  crowned 
by  small,  inappropriate  Renaissance  lanterns.  Be- 
tween them,  above  the  gable  of  the  door,  where  the 
large  traceries  of  two  Gothic  windows  seem  to  support 
the  magnificent  rose,  the  wall  is  built  with  due  propor- 
tion and  concord  of  style,  and  this  beautiful  part  of 
the  structure  and  the  three  central  doors  are  due  to  the 
munificence  of  John  of  France.  The  balcony  and  the 
pointed  gable  which  terminate  the  wall  have  little  rela- 
tionship in  size  or  style,  and  the  rest  of  the  facade  is 
a  more  or  less  confused  combination  of  pretty  arcades 
and  galleries.  On  either  side  of  the  belfry-buttress, 
two  deep,  superimposed  arches  and  their  balconies  form 
the  outer  divisions  of  the  broad  walls,  and  the  four 
stories  of  the  towers,  also  marked  by  balconies,  rise 
to  a  modest  height.  The  "New"  or  "Butter"  tower 
of  the  North  side,  partially  built  with  moneys  con- 
tributed by  gourmands  who  desired  to  eat  butter  in 
Lent,  has  delicate,  finely  carved  details  and  was  re- 
constructed in  1506  with  a  luxury  of  ornamentation 
that  unhappily  does  not  harmonise  with  the  old  "Deaf 
Tower." 

This  structure  which  has  the  comparative  severity 
of  the  XIV  century,  the  style  of  the  main  body  of  the 
church,  has  never  been  finished,  and,  by  an  aberration 


A  GLIMPSE  OF  THE  FACADE.     — BOURGES. 


357 


Bourges  359 

inexplicable  in  French  architects  of  to-day,  its  hideous, 
pointed  roof  was  recently  restored  with  a  care  worthy 
of  better  things.  If  the  addition  of  new  stages  were 
too  costly,  a  square,  surmounting  balustrade,  like  that 
of  the  "  Butter  Tower,"  would  have  had  the  merit  both 
of  economy  and  of  a  slight  increase  of  harmony  where 
harmony  is  much  needed. 

The  finest  parts  of  the  facade  are  its  five  portals. 
Because  of  the  Protestant  mutilation  of  1562,  it  is  now 
impossible  to  judge  of  their  original  magnificence,  and 
the  half -hundred  subjects  of  the  bas-reliefs  which 
illustrate  the  Bible  from  the  Creation  to  the  end  of  the 
Flood  and  from  the  Birth  of  Christ  to  His  Resurrection 
have  been  much  restored. 

On  the  dividing-pier  of  the  central  portal,  Christ 
stands  and  blesses.  The  statue  is  not  as  fine  as  the 
Beautiful  God  of  Amiens,  but  the  expression  of  the 
face  is  full  of  lofty  solemnity  and,  in  the  whole  Figure, 
there  is  a  certain  suggestion  of  solitariness  and  inevita- 
ble aloofness  which  might  well  have  characterised  the 
Son  of  Man.  The  frames  of  the  doors  on  either  side 
this  statue  have  unusual  and  pretty  arches  of  carved 
stone.  The  tympanum  tells  the  story  of  the  Last 
Judgment  in  the  three  conventional  scenes, — the  dead 
arise,  the  Just  and  the  Unjust  go  their  ways,  and  Christ, 
as  Judge,  sits  "on  High." 

The  carving  of  this  bas-relief  is  less  massive  than 
that  of  Notre-Dame  of  Paris  and  less  artistic  than  that 
of  Amiens.     It  is  not  artificial  and  its  proportions  are 


3^o  The  Mature  Gothic 

good,  but  is  it  less  moving,  less  impressive.  Many  of 
the  dead  monotonously  resemble  each  other  and  arise 
with  little  uncertainty  as  to  their  fate;  and  the  devils 
are  more  bacchanalian  and  disgusting,  and  less  horri- 
bly evil,  because  theirs  is  the  wickedness  of  a  base 
nature,  not  that  of  a  high  intelligence  with  perverted 
will.  The  most  charming  among  all  the  figures  is 
the  wide- winged  Angel  who  holds  the  scales  of  good  and 
evil  and  protectingly  caresses  a  little,  waiting  soul. 

The  Christ  on  High  is  far  less  benign,  and  might 
well  embody  the  spiritual  Ideal  of  one  of  Cromwell's 
Puritans.  He  is  not  the  Son  of  Man  Who  judges 
because  He  is  the  Merciful  as  well  as  the  Just.  He  is 
an  unmoved  God.  The  Angels  who  hold  the  instru- 
ments of  the  Passion  seem  to  stand  aloof  from  His  stiff 
Figure,  and  even  the  Virgin  and  Saint  John,  who  kneel 
and  intercede,  do  not  approach  that  unbending  Presence. 

The  smaller  doors  of  the  Virgin  and  Saint  Stephen 
have  very  interesting  bas-reliefs,  but  the  subjects  of 
the  Northern  and  Southern  portals  are  more  unusual. 
Unfortunately  the  story  of  Saint  William,  the  "  foun- 
der" of  the  present  Cathedral,  has  become  almost  il- 
legible ;  but  the  statue  of  Saint-Ursin,  dressed  as  Bishop 
of  Bourges,  still  stands  on  the  southernmost  door-pier. 
The  Gospel  speaks  of  this  Saint  under  the  name  of 
young  Nathaniel  and  his  life  after  the  death  of  Christ 
is  depicted  in  the  tympanum  above  the  statue.  With 
Saint-Just,  he  receives  his  holy  commission  from  the 
Pope,  Saint  Peter,  and  goes  forth  to  preach;  dressed  in 


•**M 


^ 


"ON    THE    DIVIDING    PIER    OF    THE    CENTRAL    PORTAL    CHRIST    STANDS     AND 

BLESSES    .     .     .    THE   TYMPANUM     TELLS     THE     STORY     OF     THE 

LAST     JUDGMENT." — BOURGES. 


361 


Bourges 


363 


pontifical  robes,  he  buries  his  dead  companion;  he 
arrives  at  Bourges,  converts  the  people,  baptises  the 
Roman  Governor  and  his  son,  and  triumphantly  con- 
secrates the  city's  first  Cathedral. 

Although  the  five  portals  of  Bourges  are  very  im- 
pressive, it  is  they  that  have  largely  contributed  to 
the  exaggerated  heaviness  of  the  facade;  because  their 


"these  five  portals 


ARE  VERY  IMPRESSIVE. 


-BOURGES. 


unusual  number  creates  the  great  width  of  the  wall, 
which  measures  a  hundred  and  eighty  feet.  The 
difference  in  the  height,  the  style,  and  the  decoration 
of  towers  originally  designed  to  be  similar  has  caused 
another  capital  defect,  a  lack  of  artistic  coherence. 
When  the  "Deaf  Tower"  threatened  to  fall,  an  enor- 
mous and  deplorable  buttress  was  built  at  a  distance 


364  The  Mature  Gothic 

of  about  twenty  feet  from  the  Cathedral's  Southern 
Avail  and  a  brawny,  supporting  arm  connects  it  with 
the  tottering  tower.  Even  those  who  find  that  unity 
is  monotonous  must  regret  this  deforming  addition  to 
a  handsome  facade  which,  although  ungainly,  is  richly 
ornamented  and  imposing. 

The  protruding  buttress  is  graceless,  but  it  has  a 
compensating  archaeological  interest.  It  was  built 
in  the  XVI  century,  the  days  of  the  decadence  of  the 
Church's  temporal  power  in  France;  yet  its  "chapel" 
is  said  to  have  been  also  a  Hall  of  Council  and  of  Judg- 
ment; and  beyond,  on  the  narrow  staircase  within  the 
straight  buttress,  a  few  cells  open  suggestively.  As  in 
other  capitular  prisons,  provision  seems  to  have  been 
made  for  all  grades  of  criminals.  There  is  a  tiny  cell, 
and  a  bigger  one,  one  less  light,  and  one  less  obscure, 
and  a  hole  opens  over  a  dark  depth  which  exhales  musty 
odours  and  recalls  unpleasant  stories  of  "oubliettes" 
and  prisoners  who  lived  without  fresh  air  or  light. 

In  the  crannies  of  the  walls  and  towers,  other,  more 
cheerful  details  appear,  a  clown  teaches  a  monkey  to 
read,  and  faces  peer  forth  with  imbecile  grins.  Except 
for  a  few  of  these  sculptures  and  the  little  Stairway  of 
Saint  William,  the  lateral  walls  are  very  plain;  they 
have  an  aspect  of  huge  simplicity  and  strength;  and  if 
an  erratic  fancy  of  the  XIX  century  had  not  placed 
a  grove  of  stiff  pinnacles  on  the  straight  buttresses 
and  a  heavy  balustrade  around  the  roof,  the  Cathe- 
dral's flanks  would  have  preserved  the  consonance  of 


Bo  urges 


365 


the  early  plan.  In  contemplating  their  long  stretch, 
unbroken  by  the  lines  of  transepts,  it  is  impossible 
to  believe  that  Bourges  is  the  shortest  of  the  great 
Cathedrals. 

The  immense  development  of  the  apse  can  be  seen 
from  the  old  archiepiscopal  gardens.     Four  windowed 
stories   unite   to 
make  its  beautiful,    ; 
rounded    height. 

The  outer  walls  of  f 

the  crypt  and  the 
ambulatory  are 
the  two  massive 
foundations,  the 
clerestory  of  the 
aisle  is  the  smaller, 
receding  stage, 
and  the  high  cler- 
estory of  the  choir 
creates  the  narrow 
symmetry  of  the 
upper  story. 

The  absidal 
chapels,   which 

were  part  of  the  original  plan,  resemble  little  towers, 
their  roofs  are  octagonal  cones  of  stone,  and  they  or- 
nament most  simply  and  naturally  the  apse's  second 
stage.  Between  them,  a  few  straight  buttresses,  like 
the  trunks  of  immense,  sparse,  forest  trees,  rise  to  the 


A  GROVE  OF  STIFF  LITTLE  PINNACLES. 
— BOURGES. 


366  The  Mature  Gothic 

third  stage  and  receive  the  long,  outstretched  branches 
of  the  lean  flying-buttresses.  The  construction  is  heavy, 
but  it  has  a  harmonious  grandeur  and  it  has  been 
compared  to  a  vast  tiara. 

The  finest  treasure  which  these  walls  contain  is  the 
Cathedral's  magnificent  glass.  From  the  primitive 
Romanesque  epoch  of  the  XI  or  XII  century,  which 
has  left  a  rare  pane  in  the  subterranean  church,  to  the 
XVII  century,  which  is  sumptuously  represented  in  the 
Chapel  of  the  Montigny  and  the  Lady  Chapel,  every 
school  of  French  stained-glass  has  left  its  trace. 

These  were  the  epochs  of  religious  teaching  through 
the  arts.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  illustrations  of  the  local 
tradition  as  well  as  of  the  most  sacred  event  of  the 
Gospel,  of  the  most  obscure  happening  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament as  well  as  of  its  epic  scenes,  were  continuously 
presented  to  the  eyes  of  the  people,  and  the  history  of 
the  Bible  and  the  Church  was  repeated  from  the  large 
statues  and  bas-reliefs  of  the  exterior  to  the  multitudes 
of  little  glass  medallions  which  were  seen  in  the  windows. 

The  scenes  and  subjects,  placed  in  these  medallions 
of  various  forms,  were  on  a  blue  ground;  and  after 
the  teachings  had  been  depicted,  the  chief  aim  of  the 
earlier  mediaeval  artists  was  "  to  produce  .  .  .  optical 
effects,  .  .  .  half-lights,  mysterious  shadows  which 
inspire  .  .  .  respect  and  contemplation  and  invite  to 
prayer." 

Romelot  wrote  that  these  old  mosaics  of  the  XIII  cen- 
tury were  "  a  lot  of  Gothic  trash  which  should  have  been 


'IT  has  been  compared  to  a  vast  tiara.  "•— bourges. 


367 


Bourges  369 

left  beneath  the  thick  coating  of  dust  which  had  covered 
them,"  others  of  the  same  opinion,  not  content  with 
this  peaceful  neglect,  have  destroyed  them,  and  there 
are  few  churches  which  now  possess  such  beautiful 
specimens  of  this  phase  of  the  art  as  those  which  fill 
many  of  the  windows  of  Saint  Stephen's  choir. 

As  the  years  passed  and  interest  in  the  perfection  of 
colouring  gave  place  to  that  of  design,  the  one  increased 
in  power  and  the  other  did  not  advance.  At  first,  the 
rich,  grave  colours  of  the  XIII  century  were  replaced 
by  magnificent  brilliancy  of  tone,  and  when  it  seemed 
as  if  glass  could  become  no  more  lustrous,  effects  of 
light  and  atmosphere  were  sought,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  perspective  was  more  carefully  considered  and 
the  lines  grew  more  natural  and  graceful. 

All  these  later  steps  in  the  history  of  windows  are 
abundantly  shown  at  Bourges.  Works  of  the  XIV  or 
the  beginning  of  the  XV  century  are  found  in  the  crypt, 
and  the  nave  chapels  continue  with  illustrations  of  the 
two  following  centuries.  With  the  advent  of  1500, 
stained-glass,  having  ceased  to  be  a  separate  art,  had, 
figuratively  speaking,  entered  the  school  of  painting. 
Raphael  used  canvas,  masters  like  Jean  Coussin  preferred 
glass; — the  material  of  the  background  differed,  but  the 
effort  seems  to  have  been  towards  the  same  result.  In 
the  windows  which  represent  the  martyrdom  of  Saint 
Stephen  and  of  Saint  Lawrence,  and  in  those  of  the 
Tulliers  which  were  made  in  1531,  the  purity  and  grace 
of  the  drawing  and  the  richness  of  the  composition  show 


3  7°  The  Mature  Gothic 

an  elegance  and  correctness  of  design  and  a  familiarity 
with  natural  pose  and  gesture  which,  until  then,  had 
belonged  only  to  the  painter's  brush. 

A  curious  window,  that  does  not  deserve  special 
artistic  mention,  but  has  an  archaeological  interest,  is 
that  of  the  Chapelle  des  Trousseaux  which  contains  the 
arms  of  Nicholas  V,  Clement  VIII,  and  of  the  all  too 
famous  Pierre  de  Luna,  the  Anti-Pope  Gregory  XIII; 
and,  in  the  order  of  artistic  chronology,  the  series  may 
be  said  to  end  with  the  Assumption  of  the  Montigny 
Chapel,  a  painting  which  shows  all  the  dramatic  splen- 
dour that  preceded  the  fall  of  the  French  mediaeval 
school. 

As  few  churches  have  as  notable  glass  as  that  of  this 
Cathedral,  so  very  few  can  excel  its  interesting  por- 
trayal of  subjects  and  styles.  The  forms  of  the  XIII 
century  windows  of  Sens  may  be  more  beautiful ;  of  the 
periods  which  follow,  those  of  Auch  and  Troves  are 
surpassingly  fine;  and  Chartres  possesses  a  larger 
number;  but  those  of  Bourges,  writes  Viollet-le-Duc, 
"mark  the  moment  of  the  apotheosis  of  painting  on 
glass." 

Except  these  windows,  Saint  Stephen  is  not  rich 
in  details.  One  of  the  lateral  porches  bears  an  addi- 
tion, the  Hall  of  Archives  which  was  built  in  all  the 
new  forms  of  the  Renaissance,  nearby  are  the  Capitu- 
lary Chamber  and  the  upper  Hall  of  the  Embroiderers, 
and  in  various  aisles  and  corners  there  are  a  few  lovely 
carvings  and  a  few  quaint  suggestions.     One  of  the 


Bourgcs  371 

most  mysterious  of  these  suggestions  is  found  in  the 
Armenian  words,  "Sarquis  Tzarah  Azzetoutzo,"  which 
have  been  cut  in  one  of  the  pillars  of  the  nave,  near  the 
entrance  to  the  crypt.  Some  Armenians  are  said  to 
have  come  to  France  in  the  XIV  century.  Could  it 
have  been  one  of  them  who,  tarrying  in  the  church, 
carved  so  deeply,  "  Sarquis,  servant  of  God  "  ? 

In  the  sacristy,  which  is  planned  like  that  of  Notre- 
Dame  of  Paris,  there  is  another  reminiscence  of  a  past 
age,  the  royal  arms  of  France  which  hang  on  the  wall 
and  bear  an  historic  explanation, — "This  is  the  es- 
cutcheon to  which  God  fastened  the  lily  and  sent  it  to 
the  noble  King  of  France.  The  Angel  brought  the 
Ampulla  of  excellence  to  Saint- Rem  i  who  consecrated 
him  at  Reims." 

In  the  wall  of  a  chapel  of  the  nave,  near  the  choir, 
is  a  deep  embrasure  which  is  apparently  meaningless 
and  uninteresting,  but  two  seats  were  formerly  placed 
there  that  the  father  and  mother  who  sat  in  them  could 
contemplate  their  eldest  son  as  he  officiated  as  Arch- 
bishop. These  were  the  seats  of  Jacques  Cceur  and  his 
wife. 

Had  this  great  burgher  been  a  prince,  his  life,  his 
habits,  his  thoughts,  and  even  his  superstitions  would 
have  been  chronicled  with  all  the  minute  care  which  the 
sycophantic  Middle  Ages  devoted  to  Kings.  And  the 
thoughts  and  habits  of  Jacques  Cceur  would  have  been 
worthy  of  rich  manuscript  and  patient  labour;  for  he 
was  an  organiser,  a  commander  of  men,  and  a  cosmopol- 


372  The  Mature  Gothic 

itan  in  days  when  high  intellects  were  too  often  nar- 
row. But  he  was  a  Commoner;  and  history,  which 
prates  much  of  the  weak,  uninteresting  Charles  and 
of  his  mother  who  expended  her  intellect  in  pander- 
ing to  her  degenerate  tastes,  recounts  proportionately 
little  of  the  forceful  man  who  seems  to  have  united 
the  talents  of  an  astute  Medicis  to  a  strong  and  loyal 
character. 

His  name  evokes  the  figures  of  two  contemporaries, 
the  faithful  friend  and  the  traitorous  friend,  and  biog- 
raphy presents  few  stranger  contrasts  than  Charles 
VII,  God's  Anointed  and  "King  of  Bourges,"  and 
Jacques  Cceur,  the  mere  citizen  of  that  town. 

By  his  people  the  prince  was  justly  dubbed  the  Well- 
Served.  "He  owes  his  renown,"  says  Thierry,  "less 
to  any  act  of  his  own  than  to  what  was  done  in  his 
name,"  and  he,  "whom  history  has  called  'Victorious' 
because  Joan  of  Arc  lent  him  her  sword  and  Jacques 
Cceur  his  money,  let  the  first  be  burned  on  the  Square 
of  Rouen,  and  sacrificed  the  second  to  the  lords  of 
the  Court."  Charles  was  no  truer  friend  to  himself. 
Fearing  that  he  was  illegitimate  and  no  Valois,  he 
found  within  him  no  personal  qualities  which  made  him 
King,  he  had  none  of  the  gay  spirit,  the  desire  to  tempt 
and  to  conquer  fortune,  which  led  Henry  of  Navarre 
to  so  many  victories.  He  was  possessed  by  the  mel- 
ancholy of  weakness,  and  spent  much  of  his  time  in 
mournful  meditations  and  in  trying  to  solve  the  vain 
and  sad  riddle  of  his  birth,  while  more  active  folk  who 


Bourgcs  373 

were  careless  of  divine  right,  "  English  and  faithless 
Burgundians,  ruled  the  realm  at  their  will." 

Proclaimed  King  on  a  barren  hill-top  of  Velay, 
buffeted  about  like  any  poor  adventurer,  Charles 
finally  arrived  at  Bourges.  There  is  no  accredited 
Palace  in  which  this  poor  prince  is  said  to  have  resided, 
he  held  his  little  Court  in  the  most  humble  manner, 
and  the  record  of  expenses  shows  frugal  fare, — "two 
sous  for  cherries  and  fruit  for  the  Queen  and  Madam 
Katharine."  In  fact,  when  means  and  provisions 
were  alike  scanty,  the  royal  pair  had  to  shut  themselves 
in  their  apartments  that  no  one  might  witness  their 
frugal  meals;  and  the  chronicler  tells  us  that  "a  shoe- 
maker, having  asked  payment  for  the  shoes  he  had 
brought  the  monarch  and  learning  its  uncertainty, 
boldly  pulled  the  shoe  off  the  royal  foot  and  departed 
with  his  merchandise."  Charles  continued  to  pray 
and  plot  half-heartedly,  and  to  wander  in  dejected 
meditation  about  his  temporary  home. 

A  man,  who  had  been  born  and  bred  in  Bourges  and 
was  living  there,  quietly  watched  the  life  of  the  exiled 
King.  This  young  man  was  Jacques  Cceur,  who  is  said 
to  have  been  the  son  of  a  goldsmith  or  a  fur  merchant 
and  to  have  begun  life  in  poverty  as  a  small  mercer. 
However  these  things  may  be,  it  is  certain  that  before 
1425  Cceur  had  become  prosperous  enough  to  have 
married  the  daughter  of  a  Provost  of  Bourges  who  had 
been  in  the  household  of  John  the  Magnificent  of  France; 
and  it  was  at  this  time  that  the  ambitious  townsman 


374  The  Mature  Gothic 

ventured  to  offer  to  his  hungry  Majesty  two  fowls  and 
a  loin  of  mutton.  According  to  tradition,  the  gift 
was  accepted;  and,  learning  to  know  the  merchant, 
Charles  recognised  that  his  talents  might  be  used 
and  quickly  made  him  Master  of  the  Mint  at 
Bourges  "which  had  already  been  partially  under  his 
care." 

The  views  of  Jacques  Cceur  were  broad,  his  mind 
grasped  national  needs  and  national  welfare;  but  the 
chief  object  of  this  little  mercer  of  a  far  inland  city 
was  the  re-creation  of  the  decaying  commerce  of  France 
which  was  then  much  less  important  than  that  of  other 
countries.  For  that  purpose  he  made  Montpellier 
the  centre  of  his  operations,  and  from  this  great  city, 
he  quickly  re-established  the  trade  of  Marseilles  which 
had  been  almost  ruined  by  the  contentions  of  the  House 
of  Anjou,  and  himself  pushed  on  to  Italy  and  Egypt 
and  penetrated  the  East  as  far  as  Damascus. 

In  twenty  years  Jacques  Cceur  had  acquired  more 
commercial  power  than  all  the  combined  merchants  of 
the  Mediterranean.  Three  hundred  agents  represented 
him  in  the  Orient,  his  vessels  covered  the  seas  and  were 
respected  as  those  of  a  beneficent  sovereign  prince; 
he  dealt  in  gold,  silver,  spice,  fur,  and  ingots,  and  be- 
came the  Medicis  of  his  native  town.  Like  the  Mcdicis 
he  was  munificent.  He  supplied  the  city  with  health- 
ful water;  in  1440,  he  bought  ground  from  the  Canons 
and  re-constructed  a  portion  of  the  Cathedral  which 
was  then  threatened  with  ruin;  and,  in  1443,  he  began 


Bourges  375 

to  build  the  magnificent  mansion  which  still  exists  in 
Bourges. 

The  man's  patriotic  comprehension  of  the  political 
situation  was  perfect,  he  became  more  and  more  neces- 
sary to  Charles  VII,  and  he  was  an  untiring,  able, 
inexhaustible  ally.  The  King  wished  to  take  Nor- 
mandy,— Jacques  Cceur  lent  him,  personally,  two 
hundred  thousand  crowns.  Some  one  had  to  accom- 
plish grave  missions  to  Geneva  and  Rome, — Jacques 
Cceur  was  ready  to  go. 

During  the  month  of  July,  145 1,  he  was  visiting 
Charles  in  the  Castle  of  Taillebourg;  and  one  day  he 
was  suddenly  taken  from  his  royal  friend  and  cast  into 
a  dungeon, — "His  jailers  were  his  accusers,  his  judges, 
his  debtors  and  bitter  enemies,"  and  before  he  ap- 
peared in  their  court,  the  King  had  seized  his  possessions. 

Although  it  had  become  possible  in  the  XV  century 
for  a  gifted  layman  of  low  rank  to  acquire  riches  and 
power,  to  associate  with  nobles,  to  be  the  favoured, 
trusted  friend  of  a  sovereign,  yet  the  noted  words  on 
the  wall  of  his  mansion  still  testify  that  Jacques  Cceur 
never  forgot  the  fate  of  his  rare  predecessors  in  the 
perillous  way  nor  the  uncertainty  and  danger  that  ever 
overhung  his  own  path. 

Writing  about  a  century  later,  the  famous  Etienne 
Pasquier  says,  "  I  imagine  that  France  never  produced 
a  man  who,  by  his  industry,  without  any  partial  favour 
of  his  prince,  rose  to  such  eminence  as"  the  merchant 
of  Bourges.     One  of  the  great — and  serious — charges 


376  The  Mature  Gothic 

against  him  was  that  he  corresponded  with  an  atrocious 
pagan,  "the  Soldan  of  Egypt,"  yet  "the  Pope,"  con- 
tinues Pasquier,  "was  the  principal  intercessor  for  his 
life;  and  the  most  marvellous  part  of  the  story  is  that, 
after  his  condemnation,  sixty  to  eighty  men  were 
found — former  clerks  who  through  him  had  become 
possessed  of  vast  wealth — who,  each  of  them,  was 
ready  to  lend  him  a  thousand  crowns  and  to  aid  him 
so  that  he  was  later  able  to  re-establish  his  fortunes — ■ 
and  this  because  of  his  goodness  to  them  in  the  past. 
Nothing  is  more  surprising"  to  the  mind  of  this  XVI 
century  lawyer  who  is  writing  "  than  that  a  mere  citizen 
should  have  been  able  to  create  such  gratitude,  except 
that  beings  so  grateful  should  be  found  to  aid  him  in 
his  adversity." 

Jacques  Cceur's  largesses  to  the  nobility,  far  from 
gaining  friends  or  at  least  placating  enemies,  as  he  may 
have  fondly  imagined,  had  merely  made  debtors  of  his 
natural  foes  and  given  them  another  motive  for  hating 
and  fearing  him.  But  besides  his  humble  allies,  the 
Commoner  had  one  strong  friend  whose  grasp  never 
relaxed  and  who,  save  for  heresy,  never  forgot  a  benefit. 
This  friend  was  the  Church.  In  pursuance  of  some 
plan  or  desire,  now  forgotten,  he  had  in  early  life  re- 
ceived the  tonsure;  at  his  own  expense,  he  had  re-built 
a  portion  of  the  Cathedral  and  adorned  it ;  he  had  been 
its  faithful  and  liberal  son;  his  brother  was  Bishop  of 
Lucon;  and,  in  1446,  his  eldest  son,  the  Archbishop  of 
Bourges,  was  carried  in   his  "  seda   gestatoria"  by  the 


Hourges  377 

four  most  powerful  Barons  of  Berri  and  surrounded  by 
his  friends,  the  Bishops  of  Agen,  Ncvers,  and  Carcas- 
sonne. 

In  his  prison,  Jacques  Cceur  heard  the  re-assuring 
voices  of  the  Church  and  of  the  people.  And  to  the 
Church  he  owed  his  life.  The  Bishop  of  Poitiers 
persistently  demanded  that  the  tonsured  prisoner 
should  stand  trial  in  an  ecclesiastical  court,  and  the 
Pope  also  persistently  demanded  his  freedom  and  his 
justification.  In  spite  of  this  tremendous  influence, 
in  spite  of  the  cyclopean  services  of  the  counsellor, 
Charles  refused  to  restore  his  property  or  his  good 
name,  yet  he  was  enabled  to  leave  France.  The  Pope, 
Eugene  IV,  received  him  warmly,  and  he  died  in  Chios 
in  the  honourable  position  of  Generalissimo  of  the 
Papal  forces. 

Nine  years  later,  as  Patriarch  of  Aquitaine,  the 
Archbishop  of  Bourges,  Jean  Cceur,  accompanied  the 
body  of  Charles  VII  from  Paris  to  Saint-Denis  and 
officiated  at  his  funeral.  It  may  well  be  questioned 
what  were  his  feelings  as  he  stood  before  the  dead  King 
who  had  indolently  and  basely  betrayed  his  father,  a 
faithful  servant  and  friend — that  strange  monarch 
who  had  been  the  lover  of  so  fine  and  faithful  a  woman 
as  Agnes  Sorel,  the  hero  of  the  pure  and  spiritual  Joan 
of  Arc,  the  slave  of  Antoinette  de  Maignelais,  and  the 
vile  prototype  of  Louis  XV  in  baseness  and  vice. 

The  position  of  Jean  Coeur  had  been  most  trying. 
During  the  period  of  his  father's  ascendancy,  the  favour 


378  The  Mature  Gothic 

of  Charles  VII  had  led  the  Pope  to  nominate  the  coun- 
sellor's eldest  son,  although  barely  twenty-five  years 
old,  to  the  magnificent  Patriarchate  of  Bourges.  The 
prudence  and  regularity  of  the  young  man's  conduct 
proved  that  a  good  choice  had  been  made.  As  Abbot 
of  Saint-Sulpice,  he  kept  his  cell  in  the  monks'  common 
dormitory  and  often  retired  there  to  meditate  and  to 
rest  from  his  archiepiscopal  labours.  He  was  most 
liberal  with  his  large  wealth.  There  was  not  a  church 
in  his  diocese  that  he  did  not  repair  or  enlarge  or  adorn, 
and  it  was  said  that  there  was  not  in  Christendom  a 
more  exemplary  or  worthy  prelate  than  Jean  Cceur. 
As  a  Frenchman,  he  was  outraged  by  the  royal  injus- 
tice; as  a  son,  he  felt  keenly  his  father's  sorrow  and  un- 
merited disgrace; — but  as  a  priest,  he  was  a  man  of 
peace.  Every  step  that  he  could  properly  take  towards 
clearing  his  father's  character  he  took;  and  it  was  ow- 
ing to  his  dutiful  and  dignified  persistency  that,  unfor- 
tunately after  Jacques  Cceur  had  died  at  Chios,  Louis 
XI  permitted  a  reversal  of  the  iniquitous  verdict  of 
Charles  VII 's  reign. 

The  interior  of  the  Cathedral  with  which  Jacques 
and  Jean  Cceur  are  so  closely  associated  is  greater  and 
more  original  than  any  portion  of  its  exterior.  A 
Latin  Cross  is  the  plan  of  almost  all  Gothic  churches, 
expressed  by  transepts,  a  nave,  and  a  Sanctuary, 
which  are  often  surrounded  by  aisles  and  chapels.  At 
Paris  the  lesser  aisles  are  always  doubled,  at  Amiens 
they  are  sometimes  double  and  the  vaults  are  always 


THE  INTERIOR  OF  THE  CATHEDRAL    ...    IS  GREATER  AND  MORE  ORIGINAL 
THAN   ANY  PART  OF  THE  EXTERIOR."  —  BOURGES. 


379 


Bourses  381 


of  the  same  height.  Bourges  is  without  transepts  and 
it  is  the  only  famous  French  Cathedral  which  is  with- 
out them.  Its  double  side-aisles  differ  in  height; 
and,  instead  of  falling  at  once  to  a  low  vaulting, 
the  eye  is  led  to  the  lower  arches  of  a  second  and, 
then,  of  a  third  aisle.  This  low,  dim,  outer  walk 
was  primitively  lighted  by  windows  like  that  which 
still  exists  beyond  the  Chapel  of  Saint-Loup;  in  its 
original  conception,  the  Cathedral  had  no  chapels 
except  the  five  small  alcoves  of  the  apse,  and  it  was 
not  until  the  XV  and  XVI  centuries  that,  as  Viollet- 
le-Duc  finely  writes,  these  constructions  "came  to 
spoil  the  finished  plan  and  surround  the  colossus 
with  a  parasitic  decoration." 

Owing  to  the  slowness  of  its  growth,  Saint  Stephen 
traversed  the  different  Gothic  epochs,  and  these  epochs 
have  left  their  mark.  The  apsidal  capitals  have  the 
large  leaves  and  the  unaffected  and  gracious  design  of 
an  early  form;  in  the  high  side-aisle,  the  ornamentation 
of  the  triforium  is  richer  than  that  of  the  central  nave, 
and  the  nave  itself  is  much  more  modern  than  the  choir. 
These  are  differences  merely  of  detail,  and,  as  they 
were  discreetly  introduced  and  preserve  the  concordant 
element  of  essential  simplicity,  they  are  neither  promi- 
nent nor  unpleasing.  No  other  church  that  has  so 
little  ornamentation  is  also  without  angularity  or 
hard  austerity;  the  beauty  of  the  interior  is  chiefly 
that  of  its  great  lines  and  forms  to  which  decoration 
is  but   a  subtle  adjunct;  and,   although  the  work  of 


0 


82  The  Mature  Gothic 


building  progressed  slowly,   the  general  regularity  of 
the  plan  was  faithfully  preserved. 

The  first  plan  consisted  of  two  aisles  which  continued 
unbroken  along  the  nave  and  about  the  choir.  The 
vertical  construction  of  the  church  is  said  to  have  been 
suggested  by  Notre-Dame  of  Paris,  but  the  suppression 
of  the  broad  gallery  gives  such  height  to  the  first 
side-aisles  and  to  the  columns  of  the  nave  that  contrast 
rather  than  resemblance  exists  between  the  two  noble 
interiors.  The  ideals  of  their  builders  were  different, 
and  that  of  Bourges  seems  obviously  to  have  been  unity 
of  effect. 

The  vertical  development  is  as  uncomplicated  as  the 
ground  plan, — it  is  merely  a  succession  of  windows, 
galleries,  and  vaults  which,  one  after  the  other,  rise 
logically  and  measuredly  till  the  height  of  the  last 
vaulting  has  been  reached.  No  principle  could  be 
more  primitive;  it  is  often  that  of  a  child's  game  of 
blocks,  but  here  it  is  that  of  a  builder  of  genius.  One 
would  say  that  it  could  not  fail  of  a  modicum  of  success ; 
yet  in  the  magnificent  choirs  of  Beauvais  and  Le  Mans, 
the  sequence  of  forms  is  a  defect  rather  than  a  quality. 
Chapels  with  long  windows,  aisles  with  stunted  galleries 
and  squat  windows  that  are  almost  triangular,  tall 
arches,  a  high  triforium,  and  a  majestic  clerestory  form, 
it  is  true,  "a  succession  of  windows  and  galleries," 
but  one  which  produces  an  impression  of  continual 
dissonance  and  confusion. 

At   Bourges,    the   problem  has  been  solved.     Each 


Bourges  383 

story  is  similar  in  form  and  follows  the  other  simply 
and  naturally. 

The  proportions  have  been  well,    if  not  perfectly, 


1 

? ': 

1              I 

1 

A    SUCCESSION    OF    WINDOWS,   GALLERIES,    AND    VAULTS 

WHICH    RISE    .    .    .    MEASUREDLY    IN     EACH    OF      THE 

AISLES,     TILL     THE     HEIGHT      OF      THE      GREAT 

VAULTING  HAS  BEEN  REACHED.  " — BOURGES. 

arranged,  but  in  the  general  plan  of  the  interior  there 
is  one  abrupt  fall  in  height  and  one  difference  in 
breadth  which  have  troubled  those  who  desire  that  the 


384  The  Mature  Gothic 

unity  should  be  absolute.  The  inner  aisles  are  nine- 
teen feet  higher  than  those  of  Amiens  and  even  seven 
or  eight  feet  higher  than  those  of  Beauvais,  and  this 
gives  to  the  Cathedral  remarkable  lightness  of  form; 
the  succeeding  stages  of  these  aisles,  the  triforium, 
double  vaulting,  and  the  superimposed  row  of  windows 
create  the  necessity  for  the  lofty  colonnade  of  the  nave ; 
but  the  vaulting  of  the  lower  is  scarcely  half  the  height 
of  the  higher  side-aisle  and,  contrary  to  a  natural 
mathematical  expectation,  this  high  side-aisle  is  nar- 
rower than  its  neighbour.  The  explanation  of  the 
latter  idiosyncrasy  is  not  found  in  structural  calcula- 
tions, but  in  a  liturgical  reason.  On  great  feast  days, 
processions  take  place  in  all  churches;  and  every  one 
knows  that  vergers  and  sextons  have  to  make  a  way  in 
the  crowded  aisles  for  the  priests  who  bear  the  Host, 
for  assisting  priests,  Orders,  and  confraternities.  At 
Bourges,  this  confusion  was  avoided  by  an  architec- 
tural device, — the  central  nave  and  the  outer  walk  were 
reserved  for  the  people  and  the  pillars  of  the  narrow 
side-aisle  mark  the  confines  of  the  festal  procession. 

Mr.  Fergusson,  with  Viollet-le-Duc,  thinks  that  the 
first  idiosyncrasy,  the  extreme  comparative  depression 
of  the  exterior  aisle,  "destroys  the  harmony  of  the 
whole"  church;  "for,  on  an  inspection  of  the  building, 
the  outer  aisles  do  not  appear  to  belong  to  the  design 
but  look  more  like  afterthoughts."  The  criticism  of  this 
disposition  would  seem  to  be  a  matter  of  taste  as  well 
as.  of   architectural   principle.     Undoubtedly   a  taller 


3»5 


Bourges  3  87 

aisle  would  have  added  to  the  perfection  of  the  edifice's 
extraordinary  and  admirable  elevation,  but  to  condemn 
the  third  aisle  utterly  as  an  apparent  "afterthought" 
is  perhaps  too  drastic.  The  change  of  proportion  in 
the  vaults  of  Notre-Dame  of  Paris  is  precipitous  in 
comparison  with  that  of  Bourges  and  if  here  the  per- 
spective into  the  low  aisle  is  suggestive  of  isolation,  it 
is  the  beautiful  and  meditative  isolation  of  a  cloistered 
walk,  and  through  its  arches  the  glimpses  of  the  high 
church  beyond  are  inspiring. 

Viollet-le-Duc  again  writes  that  "the  pillars  of  the 
nave  are  unduly  long,  the  windows  are  short,  and 
the  gallery  of  the  triforium  depressed."  An  English 
author,  Thomas  Williams,  who  seems  chiefly  impressed 
by  the  size  of  the  church,  writes  in  turn,  "however 
immense  the  Cathedral's  size,  I  would  not  rank  it  with 
those  of  Cologne  and  Milan."  It  is  impossible  to  disa- 
gree with  either  of  these  authorities.  There  is  truly 
no  comparison  between  the  solemn  and  glorious 
majesty  of  Bourges  and  the  handsome  but  mathemati- 
cal German  copy  of  Beauvais,  nor  between  the  supera- 
bundant luxuriance  of  Milan,  that  effort  after  Gothic 
ideals  by  those  incapable  of  its  Northern  art,  and  the 
noble  and  harmonious  grandeur  of  the  Cathedral  of 
the  Primates  of  Aquitaine. 

The  judgment  of  the  French  architect  is  serious  and 
just,  and  it  may  not  be  denied  that,  in  comparison  with 
its  high  columns,  the  clerestory  and  triforium  of  the 
central  nave  are  stunted,  and  that,   whether  through 


388  The  Mature  Gothic 

poverty  of  resources  or  failure  of  artistic  vision,  the 
proportions  are  imperfect  and  the  vaulting  too  low. 
Yet,  even  with  this  defect,  Bourges  has  one  of  the  most 
august  of  interiors.  The  plan  of  its  constructive  stages 
differs  notably  from  the  accepted  Gothic  type,  it  is  not 
built  after  the  "classic  model,"  and  its  own  type  did 
not  create  a  "school."  Technically  considered,  its 
original  qualities  are  a  pure  and  unaffected  ornamenta- 
tion, the  absence  of  transepts,  an  extraordinary  height 
of  pillars,  and,  above  all,  the  repeated  productions  of 
similar  forms.  The  principles  of  its  architectural  su- 
premacy are  so  simple  that  a  scholar  could  define  them, 
yet,  applied  by  the  hand  of  a  genius,  they  have  irre- 
proachable regularity  without  a  suspicion  of  monotony. 

"It  is  singularly  beautiful  in  all  its  details,"  writes 
Fergusson,  "and  happy  in  its  main  proportions;  for, 
owing  to  the  omission  of  the  transept,  the  length  is 
exquisitely  adapted  to  the  other  dimensions.  .  .  . 
Had  a  transept  been  added,  at  least  one  hundred  feet 
of  additional  length  would  have  been  required  to  restore 
the  harmony;  and,  though  externally  it  would  no  doubt 
have  gained  by  such  an  adjunct,  this  gain  would  not 
have  been  adequate  to  the  additional  expense  so 
incurred." 

The  exterior  of  the  church  is  gigantic,  heavy,  and 
imposing,  and  its  apse  and  quintuple  portal  are 
among  the  renowned  creations  of  the  Gothic.  But  it 
is  the  interior  which  is  the  supreme  creation  of  its 
architects.     Saint     Portunatus,     the     Poet-Bishop    of 


"a  stately,  grey  forest  of  high  pillars.    — BOURGES. 


389 


Bo  urges 


39i 


Poitiers,  wrote  of  the  "delicacy  of  the  columns"  of  the 
second  Cathedral  which  was  finished  in  '380.  This 
old,  traditional  characteristic  of  the  architecture  of 
Bourges  has  been  continued  in  the  Cathedral  of  the 
XII  and  XIII  centuries,  and  no  sight  of  garlands, 
flowers,  friezes,  no  caprices  of  sculpture  nor  artifices 


"the   exterior   of   the   church   is   gigantic. 


-BOURGES. 


of  the  imagination  disturb  the  glory  of  the  glass  and 
the  majesty  of  the  great  lines. 

As  in  studying  the  exterior,  so  in  the  interior,  it  is 
impossible  to  believe  that  this  is  one  of  the  shortest  of 
large  Cathedrals,  and  that,  in  its  extreme  length,  it 
measures  only  a  little  more  than  four  hundred  feet.  It 
appears  very  long,  for  the  line   of    the  incomparable 


392  The  Mature  Gothic 

colonnade  is  unbroken.  Nowhere,  except  perhaps  in 
a  grove  of  giant  birches,  could  one  stand  in  such  a 
stately  grey  forest  of  high  pillars;  in  no  Cathedral  is 
one  more  deeply  impressed  by  harmonious  perspec- 
tives, by  boldness  that  is  immensity,  vigorous  strength, 
and  majesty,  never  by  mere  audacity,  but  by  sublimity 
that  has  grace,  by  colossal  proportions  that  are  elegant, 
■ — in  a  word,  by  vast  and  noble  magnificence. 


END   OF    VOLUME    I 


Date  Due 


BEMEST3fr,- 

JUN  i  0  1!IB5" 


JUN 


7  1965  6 


Eft 

— tit 


g  .1,967  1 
MAYl7iate 


MJfi'TT 


SES 


~ 


. 


,v. 


_&PR 


■ 


41985 


e  JUN  it  1990 


Library  Bureau  Cat.  No.   1137 


" 


vCILITY 


' 


